Mendelian Randomization and Cognitive Decline

Ernesto Schifrin, physician and chief at the Drew's General Hospital and distinguished James McGill professor and vice chair of medicine at McGill University. And I will be commenting on an editorial we wrote for the European Heart Journal together with James Engert, who is a scientist at the McGill University Health Center Research Institute. They were able to establish relationships using genetic proxies from a number of cohorts including the UK Biobank and others between blood pressure and certain areas of the brain or imaging derived phenotypes with cognitive decline. One of the most important features of that work was their use of Mendelian randomization which allows us to infer causality because it actually reduces the potential for reverse causation