Investigating the Impact of Sun/UV Protection and Ease of Skin Tanning on the Risk of Pseudoexfoliation Glaucoma: A Mendelian Randomization Study

PURPOSE: To investigate the potential causal associations between the use of sun/ultraviolet (UV) protection and ease of skin tanning and the risk of pseudoexfoliation glaucoma (PXG) in European populations. METHODS: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with the use of sun/UV protection and ease of skin tanning were selected from the UK Biobank genome-wide association study database consisting of 498,751 European participants. SNPs of PXG were obtained from the FinnGen study including 3424 PXG cases and 326,434 controls. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were performed to assess the association between the use of sun/UV protection and ease of skin tanning and risk of PXG. RESULTS: Inverse variance weighted regression of genetic susceptibility predicted that both use of sun/UV protection and ease of skin tanning were potentially positively associated with the decreased risk of PXG in the European ancestry (use of sun/UV protection: odds ratio [OR] = 0.47; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.24-0.92; P = 0.028; ease of skin tanning: OR = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.67-0.97; P = 0.025). CONCLUSIONS: We found genetic evidence supporting a potential causal association between UV protection and a decreased risk of PXG in European population. Further research will help elucidate the underlying mechanisms and promote UV protection for eyes, especially in people with a high risk of PXG.