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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Apr 18.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Cardiovasc Med. 2009 Aug;19(6):195–201. doi: 10.1016/j.tcm.2009.12.003

Figure 1. Selected applications of Mendelian randomization.

Figure 1

Mendelian randomization analyses require robust associations between 1) a genetic variant and an intermediate phenotype; and 2) the intermediate phenotype and disease. If this relationship is causal, the genetic variant should related to disease as well. This evidence for causality has been confirmed for variants affecting both LDL and Lipoprotein(a) levels (A and B), but not C-reactive protein (CRP) (C).