Bidirectional Mendelian randomization analysis of C1Q and ischemic stroke

A bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was performed to investigate the causal relationship between complement component C1Q and ischemic stroke, specifically large artery atherosclerosis subtype. C1Q was used as the exposure variable and ischemic stroke as the outcome. Inverse variance weighting (IVW) was employed as the main analytical method. The analysis utilized genetic instrumental variables to assess causality while minimizing confounding factors. This approach leverages genetic variants associated with C1Q levels to determine whether C1Q has a causal effect on ischemic stroke risk, providing evidence for the clinical relevance of the complement pathway in cerebrovascular disease.