Cardiovascular risk factors mediating the protective effect of education on cervical spondylosis risk

The causal association between education and cervical spondylosis may be mediated partly through risk factors of cardiovascular disease. The identification of the protective effect of education and the evaluation of risk factors will help to optimize disease prevention at both clinical and public health levels. In this study, we applied several different Mendelian randomization (MR) methods to identify which cardiovascular factors underlie the clustering of cervical spondylosis with cardiovascular disease, and the degree to which these mediate an effect of education. Univariable MR analyses provided evidence supporting a protective effect of genetically predicted education on cervical spondylosis risk, and MVMR further identified the direct effect of education level. Our results also provided evidence supporting the detrimental effects of BMI and smoking on cervical spondylosis risk, with evidence that the effect of education is mediated through BMI and smoking. The proportions of the effect of education mediated through BMI and smoking were 12% and 3%, respectively. These findings highlight education, obesity, and smoking as common mechanisms underlying the clustering of cervical spondylosis with risk factors of cardiovascular disease, which might represent clinical and public health targets for reducing multi-morbidity and the burden of these common conditions.