Abstract: With the rapid development of genomic medicine and the massive amounts of genetic data springing up, Mendelian randomization (MR) method emerged as the times require.MR integrates genomic data into traditional epidemiological studies to infer causality of risk factors on diseases.It not only largely avoids the influence of confounding factors and reverse causation on results, but also reflects the possible causal relationship between risk factors and diseases through individual's inborn genetic markers. In recent years, this method has been widely used in the etiological inference of kidney diseases, especially chronic kidney disease and diabetic nephropathy, which can provide new ideas for understanding the nature of disease and scientific prevention and treatment. This article reviews MR and its application in chronic kidney disease and diabetic nephropathy.

Key words: Mendelian randomization, causal inference, chronic kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy