Cohort Effects in the Genetic Influence on Smoking.

TitleCohort Effects in the Genetic Influence on Smoking.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2016
AuthorsDomingue, BW, Conley, DC, Fletcher, JM, Boardman, JD
JournalBehav Genet
Volume46
Issue1
Pagination31-42
Date Published2016 Jan
ISSN Number1573-3297
KeywordsAged, Cohort Effect, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genotype, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Multifactorial Inheritance, Smoking, Twins
Abstract

We examine the hypothesis that the heritability of smoking has varied over the course of recent history as a function of associated changes in the composition of the smoking and non-smoking populations. Classical twin-based heritability analysis has suggested that genetic basis of smoking has increased as the information about the harms of tobacco has become more prevalent-particularly after the issuance of the 1964 Surgeon General's Report. In the present paper we deploy alternative methods to test this claim. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study to estimate cohort differences in the genetic influence on smoking using both genomic-relatedness-matrix restricted maximum likelihood and a modified DeFries-Fulker approach. We perform a similar exercise deploying a polygenic score for smoking using results generated by the Tobacco and Genetics consortium. The results support earlier claims that the genetic influence in smoking behavior has increased over time. Emphasizing historical periods and birth cohorts as environmental factors has benefits over existing GxE research. Our results provide additional support for the idea that anti-smoking policies of the 1980s may not be as effective because of the increasingly important role of genotype as a determinant of smoking status.

Notes

Export Date: 9 September 2015 Article in Press

URLhttp://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84938496073andpartnerID=40andmd5=76a4f2cefad88fc22ebca2e435b4323e
DOI10.1007/s10519-015-9731-9
User Guide Notes

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26223473?dopt=Abstract

Alternate JournalBehav Genet
Citation Key8389
PubMed ID26223473
PubMed Central IDPMC4720550
Grant ListR21 HD078031 / HD / NICHD NIH HHS / United States
U01 AG009740 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
P30 AG017266 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
P2C HD047879 / HD / NICHD NIH HHS / United States
R24 HD066613 / HD / NICHD NIH HHS / United States
U01AG009740 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
P2C HD047873 / HD / NICHD NIH HHS / United States
P2C HD066613 / HD / NICHD NIH HHS / United States