helicobacter pylori infection and iron deficiency anemia: a mendelian randomization study

Background: this study is to investigate the causal relationship between helicobacter pylori infection and iron deficiency anemia (ida) using a two-sample mendelian randomization (mr) approach. methods: a two-sample mr analysis was conducted using eleven single-nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) associated with h. pylori infection from genome-wide association studies (gwas) data. outcome datasets included ida, hemoglobin (hgb) levels, and iron metabolism-related indices [ferritin, transferrin saturation (tsat), serum iron, and total iron-binding capacity (tibc)]. the primary analysis used the inverse-variance weighted (ivw) method, with validation via the mr-pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (mr-presso) method. results:helicobacter pylori infection significantly reduced the risk of ida (ivw: or = 0.9986, 95% ci = 0.9977 - 0.9994, p = 9.8e-5; mr-presso: or = 0.9986, 95% ci = 0.9980 - 0.9991, p = 0.0064). no significant effect was observed on hgb levels or other iron metabolism-related indices. conclusions: this study provides genetic evidence that h. pylori infection is not a causative factor for ida and may confer a protective effect. if validated, these findings could influence the management of h. pylori infection and ida prevention strategies, particularly in populations without severe gastrointestinal pathologies.