Accepted_test
In this study, we applied Mendelian randomization approach to assess the effect of four classes of cardiovascular medications (beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and statins) on spinal pain and answer the question of whether they can be useful for its treatment or prevention. We utilized publicly available results of genome-wide association studies conducted in White Europeans for systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and spinal pain. The first two were considered as exposures, and the latter was an outcome in the analyses. We followed the pipeline proposed by Gill and coauthors in 2019 to estimate the causal effect. We set the threshold for statistical significance at p-value < 0.0125 after correction for multiple testing and estimated the detectable MR effect for each medication assuming 80% statistical power. We observed no statistically significant effect on spinal pain for any of the four medication classes. However, protective effect of beta-blockers and detrimental effect of calcium channel blockers on spinal pain were suggestively significant in the current study.