Commentary: Associations between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and allergic diseases: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study

作者：Wenpei Qi, Chenjie Zhang, Shuqi Zhang, Liwei Liu, Yuehua Chen · 发表于：Frontiers in Psychiatry · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1847288 · 研究领域：Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder、Genetic Associations and Epidemiology、Bipolar Disorder and Treatment

The relationship between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and allergic diseases has attracted increasing attention in clinical research(1-2). We read with great interest the study by Zhang et al.(3), which applied a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach to investigate this association. The authors reported that genetically predicted ADHD was associated with a slight increase in the risk of allergic asthma in the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) analysis. However, results from other MR methods were less consistent. The study did not support the conclusion that ADHD could increase the incidence of allergic diseases. By applying an MR design, the study aimed to minimize residual confounding and reverse causation that often affect observational analyses(4).While the study provides valuable insights, several aspects of the analytical strategy and interpretation of the results merit further discussion.We would like to comment on the interpretation of the results related to asthma. In the primary analysis, the IVW indicated a statistically significant association between ADHD and allergic asthma (OR = 1.0612, P < 0.05), whereas MR-Egger and weighted median analyses did not reach statistical significance. The authors therefore interpreted the evidence as not supporting a causal association.However, discrepancies across MR estimators are not uncommon, as these methods rely on different statistical assumptions and vary in their sensitivity to pleiotropy and invalid instru...