Sedentary behavior and mobile phone use in anxiety,social anxiety,and panic disorder: A Mendelian randomization study

Abstract

This two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study investigated causal associations of genetic predisposition to sedentary behaviors (television viewing, computer use, driving) and mobile phone use duration with social anxiety/social phobia, an “anxiety, nerves, or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)” phenotype, and panic attacks. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary data were sourced from the IEU OpenGWAS repository, primarily comprising individuals of European ancestry from the UK Biobank (aged 40–69). Independent genome-wide significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (p < 5 × 10⁻⁸) were selected as instrumental variables. Causal estimates were primarily derived using inverse-variance weighted (IVW) regression, supplemented by sensitivity analyses. Results demonstrated that genetically predicted mobile phone use was associated with increased liability to both social anxiety or social phobia (β = .011, p = .045) and panic attacks (β = .021, p = .033). Conversely, computer use showed a protective association with panic attacks (β = −0.028, p = .010), whereas television viewing was also associated with higher panic attack risk (β = .020, p = .047). These findings indicate modest causal effects of specific digital behaviors on anxiety-related outcomes, though interpretations are constrained by phenotypic and sample limitations.