Exploring links between health and the genetic risk for smoking

Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we document that among those aged 50–65, higher genetic scores for smoking are associated with worse health after accounting for detailed measures of smoking behavior and history. These associations are present even among those who report never smoking, suggesting they are not fully explained by smoking behavior. We then investigate several hypotheses for why this association persists. Parental and childhood characteristics—including parental smoking, parental risky behaviors, parental mortality, parental education, and childhood socioeconomic status—account for a modest portion of the observed association. We also examine behavioral and psychological characteristics linked to health. Higher genetic scores for smoking are associated with shorter financial planning horizons and lower optimism and conscientiousness, and these characteristics account for part of the observed association. Overall, our findings indicate that genetic scores for smoking may capture health-relevant heterogeneity that is not fully accounted for by observed smoking behavior.