Association Between Androgenic Alopecia and Schizophrenia: A Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study

The study investigated the causal relationship between androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and schizophrenia using a bidirectional Mendelian randomization analysis. The forward MR analysis found a significant causal relationship between AGA and schizophrenia, with an odds ratio of 0.996 (95% CI: 0.992–0.999; P = 0.025). However, the reverse MR analysis showed no causal association between schizophrenia and AGA, with an odds ratio of 1.061 (95% CI: 0.965–1.165; P = 0.220). No heterogeneity or pleiotropy was observed in the analyses. Gene ontology and KEGG pathway analyses suggested that genes at SNP sites in the forward MR analysis were linked to various metabolic processes and signaling pathways. The study concludes that AGA may causally influence schizophrenia, but not vice versa.