Cigarette smoking behaviors and the importance of ethnicity and genetic ancestry

Abstract

Cigarette smoking contributes to numerous diseases and is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Smoking behaviors vary widely across race/ethnicity, but it is not clear why. Here, we examine the contribution of genetic ancestry to variation in two smoking-related traits in 43,485 individuals from four race/ethnicity groups (non-Hispanic white, Hispanic/Latino, East Asian, and African American) from a single U.S. healthcare plan. Smoking prevalence was the lowest among East Asians (22.7%) and the highest among non-Hispanic whites (38.5%). We observed significant associations between genetic ancestry and smoking-related traits. Within East Asians, we observed higher smoking prevalence with greater European (versus Asian) ancestry (P = 9.95 × 10−12). Within Hispanic/Latinos, higher cigarettes per day (CPD) was associated with greater European ancestry (P = 3.34 × 10−25). Within non-Hispanic whites, the lowest number of CPD was observed for individuals of southeastern European ancestry (P = 9.06 × 10−5). These associations remained after considering known smoking-associated loci, education, socioeconomic factors, and marital status. Our findings support the role of genetic ancestry and socioeconomic factors in cigarette smoking behaviors in non-Hispanic whites, Hispanic/Latinos, and East Asians.

Tobacco Consumption Among Young Population in Rural Indonesia: Prevalence and Associated Factors

“…In the adjusted model, binary logistic regression results showed a significant positive association between tobacco consumption with the older age group (20)(21)(22)(23)(24), lower level of education, being married, and having a smoking parent. Whereas significant but negative correlation was found between young females and tobacco use behavior.…”

“…The explanatory variables were chosen based on the current literature, which identifies age, sex, level of education attained [6], [13] marital status [17], religion [18], ethnicity [20], access to the internet [21], and parental smoking behavior [23] as an important risk factor. To meet the requirements for binary logistics regression, all the independent variables were transformed into categorical ones.…”

“…Therefore, understanding the factors associated with tobacco-use behavior are critical for identifying high-risk populations, informing government policy, and designing effective smoking cessation programs. Prior studies have shown that age, sex, level of education attained, marital status, religion, ethnicity, access to the internet, and parental smoking behavior influence tobacco use in youths [13], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21]. In light of the above, this study investigates the prevalence and associated factors of tobacco consumption among the young population in rural areas of Indonesia.…”

Smoking, race, ancestry and prospective abstinence

“…African ancestry and Asian ancestry were associated with decreased smoking intensity and nicotine metabolism measures in Pharmacogenetic Study participants. Ancestry within selfidentified ethnic strata was examined for association with CPD in non-treatment seeking ever smokers from a health maintenance organization (mean(SD) 55( 11) years of age and 58% female) 41 . Within group association of the first two geographically interpretable principal components of genetic variation was observed in non-Hispanic White (N=12898, 13% current), in East Asian (N=921, 15% but not in African American (N=554, 24% current) ever smokers.…”

Linear and partially linear models of behavioral trait variation using admixture regression

“…Racial/ethnic group identities such as Black, White, Hispanic, Native American, East Asian and South Asian show empirically strong linkages to medical and behavioral traits such as obesity (Wang et al 2007), type 2 diabetes (Cheng et al 2013), hypertension (Lackland 2014), asthma (Choudry et al 2006), neuropsychological performance (Llibre-Guerra et al 2018), smoking behaviors (Choquet et al 2021), and sleep disorders (Halder et al 2015). An important research question is to what degree any such observed trait variation arises from differences in the typical diets, cultural practices and other environmental particularities of the racial/ethnic groups, or from similarity in genetic pools within each group traceable to shared geographic ancestry.…”