Scientific Reports (May 2017)
Investigating the causal effect of smoking on hay fever and asthma: a Mendelian randomization meta-analysis in the CARTA consortium
- Tea Skaaby,
- Amy E. Taylor,
- Rikke K. Jacobsen,
- Lavinia Paternoster,
- Betina H. Thuesen,
- Tarunveer S. Ahluwalia,
- Sofus C. Larsen,
- Ang Zhou,
- Andrew Wong,
- Maiken E. Gabrielsen,
- Johan H. Bjørngaard,
- Claudia Flexeder,
- Satu Männistö,
- Rebecca Hardy,
- Diana Kuh,
- Sarah J. Barry,
- Line Tang Møllehave,
- Charlotte Cerqueira,
- Nele Friedrich,
- Tobias N. Bonten,
- Raymond Noordam,
- Dennis O. Mook-Kanamori,
- Christian Taube,
- Leon E. Jessen,
- Alex McConnachie,
- Naveed Sattar,
- Mark N. Upton,
- Charles McSharry,
- Klaus Bønnelykke,
- Hans Bisgaard,
- Holger Schulz,
- Konstantin Strauch,
- Thomas Meitinger,
- Annette Peters,
- Harald Grallert,
- Ellen A. Nohr,
- Mika Kivimaki,
- Meena Kumari,
- Uwe Völker,
- Matthias Nauck,
- Henry Völzke,
- Chris Power,
- Elina Hyppönen,
- Torben Hansen,
- Torben Jørgensen,
- Oluf Pedersen,
- Veikko Salomaa,
- Niels Grarup,
- Arnulf Langhammer,
- Pål R. Romundstad,
- Frank Skorpen,
- Jaakko Kaprio,
- Marcus R Munafò,
- Allan Linneberg
Affiliations
- Tea Skaaby
- Research Centre for Prevention and Health, Centre for Health, Capital Region of Denmark
- Amy E. Taylor
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol
- Rikke K. Jacobsen
- Research Centre for Prevention and Health, Centre for Health, Capital Region of Denmark
- Lavinia Paternoster
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol
- Betina H. Thuesen
- Research Centre for Prevention and Health, Centre for Health, Capital Region of Denmark
- Tarunveer S. Ahluwalia
- Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen
- Sofus C. Larsen
- Research unit for Dietary Studies, the Parker Institute, Frederiksberg and Bispebjerg Hospitals
- Ang Zhou
- Centre for Population Health Research, School of Health Sciences and Sansom Institute of Health Research, University of South Australia
- Andrew Wong
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL
- Maiken E. Gabrielsen
- K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU
- Johan H. Bjørngaard
- Forensic Department and Research Centre Bröset St. Olav’s University Hospital Trondheim
- Claudia Flexeder
- Institute of Epidemiology I, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health
- Satu Männistö
- Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare
- Rebecca Hardy
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL
- Diana Kuh
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL
- Sarah J. Barry
- Robertson Centre for Biostatistics, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow
- Line Tang Møllehave
- Research Centre for Prevention and Health, Centre for Health, Capital Region of Denmark
- Charlotte Cerqueira
- Research Centre for Prevention and Health, Centre for Health, Capital Region of Denmark
- Nele Friedrich
- Research Centre for Prevention and Health, Centre for Health, Capital Region of Denmark
- Tobias N. Bonten
- Department of Pulmonology, Leiden University Medical Center
- Raymond Noordam
- Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Leiden University Medical Center
- Dennis O. Mook-Kanamori
- Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center
- Christian Taube
- Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Ruhrlandklinik, West German Lung Center, University Hospital Essen, University Duisburg-Essen
- Leon E. Jessen
- Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen
- Alex McConnachie
- Robertson Centre for Biostatistics, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow
- Naveed Sattar
- Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences & Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow
- Mark N. Upton
- Helmsley Medical Centre
- Charles McSharry
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow
- Klaus Bønnelykke
- Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen
- Hans Bisgaard
- Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen
- Holger Schulz
- Institute of Epidemiology I, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health
- Konstantin Strauch
- Institute of Genetic Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health
- Thomas Meitinger
- Institute of Human Genetics, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health
- Annette Peters
- German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK e.V.), Partner Site Munich Heart Alliance
- Harald Grallert
- Research Unit Molecular Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health
- Ellen A. Nohr
- Research Unit for Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark
- Mika Kivimaki
- Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London
- Meena Kumari
- ISER, University of Essex
- Uwe Völker
- Interfaculty Institute for Genetics and Functional Genomics, University Medicine and Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University Greifswald
- Matthias Nauck
- Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald
- Henry Völzke
- Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald
- Chris Power
- Population, Policy and Practice, University College London Institute of Child Health
- Elina Hyppönen
- Centre for Population Health Research, School of Health Sciences and Sansom Institute of Health Research, University of South Australia
- Torben Hansen
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Section on Metabolic Genetics, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen
- Torben Jørgensen
- Research Centre for Prevention and Health, Centre for Health, Capital Region of Denmark
- Oluf Pedersen
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Section on Metabolic Genetics, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen
- Veikko Salomaa
- National Institute for Health and Welfare, Dept. of Health
- Niels Grarup
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Section on Metabolic Genetics, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen
- Arnulf Langhammer
- HUNT Research Centre, Department of Public Health and General Practice, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
- Pål R. Romundstad
- Department of Public Health and Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
- Frank Skorpen
- Department of laboratory medicine, children’s and women’s health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU
- Jaakko Kaprio
- University of Helsinki, Dept. of Public Health
- Marcus R Munafò
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol
- Allan Linneberg
- Research Centre for Prevention and Health, Centre for Health, Capital Region of Denmark
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01977-w
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 7,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 9
Abstract
Abstract Observational studies on smoking and risk of hay fever and asthma have shown inconsistent results. However, observational studies may be biased by confounding and reverse causation. Mendelian randomization uses genetic variants as markers of exposures to examine causal effects. We examined the causal effect of smoking on hay fever and asthma by using the smoking-associated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs16969968/rs1051730. We included 231,020 participants from 22 population-based studies. Observational analyses showed that current vs never smokers had lower risk of hay fever (odds ratio (OR) = 0·68, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0·61, 0·76; P < 0·001) and allergic sensitization (OR = 0·74, 95% CI: 0·64, 0·86; P < 0·001), but similar asthma risk (OR = 1·00, 95% CI: 0·91, 1·09; P = 0·967). Mendelian randomization analyses in current smokers showed a slightly lower risk of hay fever (OR = 0·958, 95% CI: 0·920, 0·998; P = 0·041), a lower risk of allergic sensitization (OR = 0·92, 95% CI: 0·84, 1·02; P = 0·117), but higher risk of asthma (OR = 1·06, 95% CI: 1·01, 1·11; P = 0·020) per smoking-increasing allele. Our results suggest that smoking may be causally related to a higher risk of asthma and a slightly lower risk of hay fever. However, the adverse events associated with smoking limit its clinical significance.
