Scientific Reports (Jul 2022)
Smoking remains associated with education after controlling for social background and genetic factors in a study of 18 twin cohorts
- Karri Silventoinen,
- Maarit Piirtola,
- Aline Jelenkovic,
- Reijo Sund,
- Adam D. Tarnoki,
- David L. Tarnoki,
- Emanuela Medda,
- Lorenza Nisticò,
- Virgilia Toccaceli,
- Chika Honda,
- Fujio Inui,
- Rie Tomizawa,
- Mikio Watanabe,
- Norio Sakai,
- Margaret Gatz,
- David A. Butler,
- Jooyeon Lee,
- Soo Ji Lee,
- Joohon Sung,
- Carol E. Franz,
- William S. Kremen,
- Michael J. Lyons,
- Catherine A. Derom,
- Robert F. Vlietinck,
- Ruth J. F. Loos,
- Per Tynelius,
- Finn Rasmussen,
- Nicholas G. Martin,
- Sarah E. Medland,
- Grant W. Montgomery,
- Ingunn Brandt,
- Thomas S. Nilsen,
- Jennifer R. Harris,
- Jessica Tyler,
- John L. Hopper,
- Patrik K. E. Magnusson,
- Nancy L. Pedersen,
- Anna K. Dahl Aslan,
- Juan R. Ordoñana,
- Juan F. Sánchez-Romera,
- Lucia Colodro-Conde,
- Esther Rebato,
- Dongfeng Zhang,
- Zengchang Pang,
- Qihua Tan,
- Judy L. Silberg,
- Hermine H. Maes,
- Dorret I. Boomsma,
- Thorkild I. A. Sørensen,
- Tellervo Korhonen,
- Jaakko Kaprio
Affiliations
- Karri Silventoinen
- Department of Social Research, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
- Maarit Piirtola
- UKK Institute – Centre for Health Promotion Research
- Aline Jelenkovic
- Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, University of the Basque Country
- Reijo Sund
- Department of Social Research, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
- Adam D. Tarnoki
- Medical Imaging Centre, Semmelweis University
- David L. Tarnoki
- Medical Imaging Centre, Semmelweis University
- Emanuela Medda
- Istituto Superiore di Sanità - Centre for Behavioural Sciences and Mental Health
- Lorenza Nisticò
- Istituto Superiore di Sanità - Centre for Behavioural Sciences and Mental Health
- Virgilia Toccaceli
- Istituto Superiore di Sanità - Centre for Behavioural Sciences and Mental Health
- Chika Honda
- Center for Twin Research, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine
- Fujio Inui
- Center for Twin Research, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine
- Rie Tomizawa
- Center for Twin Research, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine
- Mikio Watanabe
- Center for Twin Research, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine
- Norio Sakai
- Center for Twin Research, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine
- Margaret Gatz
- Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California
- David A. Butler
- The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
- Jooyeon Lee
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Seoul National University
- Soo Ji Lee
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Seoul National University
- Joohon Sung
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Seoul National University
- Carol E. Franz
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California
- William S. Kremen
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California
- Michael J. Lyons
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University
- Catherine A. Derom
- Centre of Human Genetics, University Hospitals Leuven
- Robert F. Vlietinck
- Centre of Human Genetics, University Hospitals Leuven
- Ruth J. F. Loos
- The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, The Mindich Child Health and Development Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Per Tynelius
- Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet
- Finn Rasmussen
- Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet
- Nicholas G. Martin
- Genetic Epidemiology Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
- Sarah E. Medland
- Genetic Epidemiology Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
- Grant W. Montgomery
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland
- Ingunn Brandt
- Division of Health Data and Digitalization, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
- Thomas S. Nilsen
- Division of Health Data and Digitalization, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
- Jennifer R. Harris
- Center for Fertility and Health, The Norwegian Institute of Public Health
- Jessica Tyler
- Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Twins Research Australia, The University of Melbourne
- John L. Hopper
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Seoul National University
- Patrik K. E. Magnusson
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet
- Nancy L. Pedersen
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet
- Anna K. Dahl Aslan
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet
- Juan R. Ordoñana
- Department of Human Anatomy and Psychobiology, University of Murcia
- Juan F. Sánchez-Romera
- Department of Human Anatomy and Psychobiology, University of Murcia
- Lucia Colodro-Conde
- Genetic Epidemiology Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
- Esther Rebato
- Department of Genetics, Physical Anthropology and Animal Physiology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
- Dongfeng Zhang
- Department of Public Health, Qingdao University Medical College
- Zengchang Pang
- Department of Noncommunicable Diseases Prevention, Qingdao Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Qihua Tan
- Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Biodemography, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark
- Judy L. Silberg
- Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University
- Hermine H. Maes
- Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Psychiatry and Massey Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University
- Dorret I. Boomsma
- Netherlands Twin Register, Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
- Thorkild I. A. Sørensen
- Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen
- Tellervo Korhonen
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM, University of Helsinki
- Jaakko Kaprio
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM, University of Helsinki
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-17536-x
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 12,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 9
Abstract
Abstract We tested the causality between education and smoking using the natural experiment of discordant twin pairs allowing to optimally control for background genetic and childhood social factors. Data from 18 cohorts including 10,527 monozygotic (MZ) and same-sex dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs discordant for education and smoking were analyzed by linear fixed effects regression models. Within twin pairs, education levels were lower among the currently smoking than among the never smoking co-twins and this education difference was larger within DZ than MZ pairs. Similarly, education levels were higher among former smoking than among currently smoking co-twins, and this difference was larger within DZ pairs. Our results support the hypothesis of a causal effect of education on both current smoking status and smoking cessation. However, the even greater intra-pair differences within DZ pairs, who share only 50% of their segregating genes, provide evidence that shared genetic factors also contribute to these associations.
