Cigarette smoking and personality: Investigating causality using Mendelian randomization

Sallis, Hannah M; Smith, George Davey; Munafò, Marcus R.

doi:10.1101/246181

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Another potential shared risk factor, noted by the authors, is personality. This aligns with extensive research showing that personality is associated strongly with smoking and alcohol use , as well as caffeine intake . Most notable are the personality traits impulsiveness, sensation‐seeking and extraversion.…”

supporting

confidence: 86%

Commentary on Kristjansson et al. (2018): Caffeine use during early adolescence as a possible risk factor for initiation of smoking and alcohol use

Treur

Munafò

2018

Addiction

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

supporting

confidence: 86%

Commentary on Kristjansson et al. (2018): Caffeine use during early adolescence as a possible risk factor for initiation of smoking and alcohol use

Treur

Munafò

2018

Addiction

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Internalizing/mood disorders There was some evidence for causal, increasing effects of depression (Wootton et al, 2019), feelings of loneliness (Wootton et al, 2020), and neuroticism (Sallis, Smith, & Munafo, 2019) on smoking behavior. Adams (2019), using a larger data set for the outcome than Sallis et al (2019), did not find clear evidence that neuroticism affects smoking. There was no clear evidence for causal effects of depression or bipolar disorder on smoking (Barkhuizen, Dudbridge, & Ronald, 2020;Vermeulen et al, 2019).…”

Section: Sleep Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Mendelian randomization analysis to better understand the relationship between mental health and substance use: a systematic review

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Poor mental health has consistently been associated with substance use (smoking, alcohol drinking, cannabis use, and consumption of caffeinated drinks). To properly inform public health policy it is crucial to understand the mechanisms underlying these associations, and most importantly, whether or not they are causal. Methods In this pre-registered systematic review, we assessed the evidence for causal relationships between mental health and substance use from Mendelian randomization (MR) studies, following PRISMA. We rated the quality of included studies using a scoring system that incorporates important indices of quality, such as the quality of phenotype measurement, instrument strength, and use of sensitivity methods. Results Sixty-three studies were included for qualitative synthesis. The final quality rating was ‘−’ for 16 studies, ‘– +’ for 37 studies, and ‘+’for 10 studies. There was robust evidence that higher educational attainment decreases smoking and that there is a bi-directional, increasing relationship between smoking and (symptoms of) mental disorders. Another robust finding was that higher educational attainment increases alcohol use frequency, but decreases binge-drinking and alcohol use problems, and that mental disorders causally lead to more alcohol drinking without evidence for the reverse. Conclusions The current MR literature increases our understanding of the relationship between mental health and substance use. Bi-directional causal relationships are indicated, especially for smoking, providing further incentive to strengthen public health efforts to decrease substance use. Future MR studies should make use of large(r) samples in combination with detailed phenotypes, a wide range of sensitivity methods, and triangulate with other research methods.

show abstract

“…So far, one MR study found evidence for a causal effect of alcohol use on attention problems and aggression in adolescents (but not on delinquency, anxiety, or depression) 30 . Two other studies provided evidence that genetic liability to ADHD, as well as higher extraversion, has a causal effect on smoking initiation 31–32 . A recent MR study found that liability to ADHD leads to a higher risk of cannabis initiation, but these analyses were based on summary‐level data of a cannabis GWAS, which has recently been updated (with a much larger sample size— n = 184 765 instead of n = 32 330).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…30 Two other studies provided evidence that genetic liability to ADHD, as well as higher extraversion, has a causal effect on smoking initiation. 31,32 A recent MR study found that liability to ADHD leads to a higher risk of cannabis initiation, but these analyses were based on summary-level data of a cannabis GWAS, which has recently been updated (with a much larger sample size-n = 184 765 instead of n = 32 330). Moreover, potential causal effects in the reverse direction were not adequately tested given that the authors included all ADHD cases instead of just those diagnosed in adulthood.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating causality between liability to ADHD and substance use, and liability to substance use and ADHD risk, using Mendelian randomization

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has consistently been associated with substance use, but the nature of this association is not fully understood. To inform intervention development and public health messages, a vital question is whether there are causal pathways from ADHD to substance use and/or vice versa. We applied bidirectional Mendelian randomization, using summary-level data from the largest available genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on ADHD, smoking (initiation, cigarettes per day, cessation, and a compound measure of lifetime smoking), alcohol use (drinks per week, alcohol problems, and alcohol dependence), cannabis use (initiation), and coffee consumption (cups per day). Genetic variants robustly associated with the "exposure" were selected as instruments and identified in the "outcome" GWAS. Effect estimates from individual genetic variants were combined with inverse-variance weighted regression and five sensitivity analyses (weighted median, weighted mode, MR-Egger, generalized summary data-based MR, and Steiger filtering). We found evidence that liability to ADHD increases likelihood of smoking initiation and heaviness of smoking among smokers, decreases likelihood of smoking cessation, and increases likelihood of cannabis initiation. There was weak evidence that liability to ADHD increases alcohol dependence risk but not drinks per week or alcohol problems. In the other direction, there was weak evidence that smoking initiation increases ADHD risk, but follow-up analyses suggested a high probability of horizontal pleiotropy. There was no clear evidence of causal pathways between ADHD and coffee consumption. Our findings corroborate epidemiological evidence, suggesting causal pathways from liability to ADHD to smoking, cannabis use, and, tentatively, alcohol dependence. Further work is needed to explore the exact mechanisms mediating these causal effects.

show abstract

Cigarette smoking and personality: Investigating causality using Mendelian randomization

Abstract: 21Background: Despite the well-documented association between smoking and 22

Cited by 4 publications

References 33 publications

Commentary on Kristjansson et al. (2018): Caffeine use during early adolescence as a possible risk factor for initiation of smoking and alcohol use

Commentary on Kristjansson et al. (2018): Caffeine use during early adolescence as a possible risk factor for initiation of smoking and alcohol use

Using Mendelian randomization analysis to better understand the relationship between mental health and substance use: a systematic review

Investigating causality between liability to ADHD and substance use, and liability to substance use and ADHD risk, using Mendelian randomization

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About