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| A Mendelian randomization analysis of the causal relationship between emotions and epigastric pain based on the theory of “liver constraint overwhelming spleen” and “brain-gut axis” |
| Hits 184 Download times 45 Received:December 01, 2025 |
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| DOI
10.11656/j.issn.1673-9043.2026.02.03 |
| Key Words
epigastric pain;emotions;Mendelian Randomization;overthinking |
| Author Name | Affiliation | E-mail | | DING Xueqi | Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, China | | | YANG Bowen | Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, China | | | LI Huizhen | Second Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300250, China | | | XIONG Ke | School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, China | | | ZHANG Mingyan | School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, China | | | ZHANG Junqi | Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410000, China | | | CHENG Ningtao | School of Public Health, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China | ncheng@zju.edu.cn | | HUANG Ming | Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, China
State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine Creation, Tianjin 301617, China | drhuang1027@foxmail.com |
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| Abstract
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| [Objective] To explore the potential causal relationships between specific emotional factors and epigastric pain-related diseases（including chronic gastritis，functional dyspepsia，gastric ulcers，irritable bowel syndrome，and esophagitis）from a genetic perspective by using Mendelian Randomization（MR），providing scientific evidence for the Traditional Chinese Medicine（TCM）theory that“internal emotional injury causes epigastric pain”. [Methods] We utilized publicly available data from large-scale genome-wide association studies（GWAS）. Single nucleotide polymorphisms（SNPs）significantly associated with the five TCM-defined emotions（“anger”，“joy”， “overthinking”，“grief”，and“fear”）were selected as instrumental variables. The causal effects of these emotions on five gastric diseases were assessed using the inverse variance weighted（IVW）method as the primary analysis， supplemented by a range of sensitivity analyses. [Results] MR analysis demonstrated that genetically predicted “overthinking”（anxiety）and“grief”（depression）significantly increased the risk of irritable bowel syndrome， gastric ulcers，functional dyspepsia，and chronic gastritis（IVW P<0.05，OR=1.27-2.83）. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of these causal relationships，with no significant heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy detected. [Conclusion] This study provides genetic evidence that anxiety and depression are potential risk factors for epigastric pain-related diseases，substantiating the TCM theory of emotional pathogenesis and supporting integrated mind-body intervention strategies. |
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