No evidence of a causal relationship between negative emotions and glaucoma: evidence triangulation from genetic correlation, Mendelian randomisation and colocalisation

BMJ Open Ophthalmol. 2025 Oct 28;10(1):e002347. doi: 10.1136/bmjophth-2025-002347.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Observational studies suggest that anxiety and depression disorders have significant correlation, but these results may have been influenced by confounding factors, and negative emotions that do not meet the criteria for clinical mental disease diagnosis are more common, the evidence for this association is unclear. This study employed whole-genome linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC), Mendelian randomisation (MR), Bayesian colocalisation (colocalisation) to explore association between common negative emotions and glaucoma.

DESIGN: Bidirectional genetic associations between negative emotion and glaucoma.

PARTICIPANTS: Data from UK Biobank and FinnGen R10.

METHODS: MR, whole-genome LDSC, Bayesian colocalisation.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Genetic causal associations between negative emotion and glaucoma.

RESULT: At Bonferroni-corrected levels of significance, there was no genetic correlation, causal association or shared genetic mechanism between any negative emotions and glaucoma, except for depression, which showed a genetic link but no causal evidence.

CONCLUSIONS: Depression, anxiety and eight other common negative emotions may not be causally associated with glaucoma and there may be no genetic correlation between them.

PMID:41151919 | DOI:10.1136/bmjophth-2025-002347