When treating PA as the exposure, our findings revealed that MPA ≥ 10 min/wk, VPA ≥ 10 min/wk, MVPA, and OAA were significantly associated with a decreased risk of SC after controlling known confounders, such as drinking and smoking, by excluding the related SNPs from the analysis. In total, we selected 14 SNPs for walking ≥ 10 min/wk, 11 SNPs for MPA ≥ 10 min/wk, 9 SNPs for VPA ≥ 10 min/wk, 16 SNPs for MVPA, and 7 SNPs for OAA as IVs. The primary data analyzed through MR is summarized in
Figure 2. Detailed information regarding these 57 genetic variants can be found in
Supplementary Tables S1–
S5. MR analysis using the IVW method showed no significant association between walking ≥ 10 min/wk and SC risk (OR = 0.972, 95% CI = 0.741–1.275,
P = 8.36E-01). However, it also indicated that MPA ≥ 10 min/wk (IVW: OR = 0.765, 95% CI = 0.627–0.936,
P = 8.73E-03) and VPA ≥ 10 min/wk (IVW: OR = 0.691, 95% CI = 0.521–0.917,
P = 1.04E-02) may be potential factors in preventing SC. MVPA (IVW: OR = 0.552, 95% CI = 0.369–0.823,
P = 3.75E-03) were negatively correlated with SC risk, revealing that continuous moderate and high intensity of PA may be more effective in preventing SC. We also successfully established a causal link between OAA and a diminished risk of SC (OR = 0.952, 95% CI = 0.926–0.978,
P = 3.80E-04). Comprehensive MR data and the forest plots regarding the association between PA and the risk of SC are presented in
Figure 2. Despite the
P values of MR-Egger, the weighted median, simple mode, and weighted mode assessment results possibly exceeding 0.05, the OR values remained in line with the IVW trend, suggesting the IVW estimates to be credible.
Supplementary Figure S1 provides scatter plots to represent the causal relationship between PA and SC risk visually.