Gunnhild Åberge Vie1, Robyn E Wootton2,3,4,5, Johan Håkon Bjørngaard1, Bjørn Olav Åsvold6,7, Amy E Taylor2,8, Maiken Elvestad Gabrielsen7, George Davey Smith2,5,8, Pål Richard Romundstad1, Marcus R Munafò2,3,4,5. 1. Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. 2. MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. 3. UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. 4. Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. 5. NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. 6. Department of Endocrinology, St Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway. 7. KG Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. 8. Department of Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Smoking is an important cause of mortality and recent studies have suggested that even low-intensity smoking might be associated with increased mortality. Still, smoking is associated with lower socio-economic status as well as other potential risk factors, and disease onset might motivate smoking cessation, thus residual confounding and reverse causality might bias results. We aimed to assess the evidence of a causal relationship between smoking intensity and cause-specific as well as all-cause-mortality using Mendelian randomization analyses. METHODS: We included 56 019 participants from the Norwegian HUNT2 Study and 337 103 participants from UK Biobank, linked to national registry data on causes of death. We estimated associations of self-reported smoking as well as the genetic variant rs1051730 as an instrument for smoking intensity with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. We subsequently meta-analysed the results from the two cohorts. RESULTS: Each effect allele of the rs1051730 was associated with a 9% increased hazard of all-cause mortality [95% confidence interval (CI) 6-11] among ever smokers. Effect alleles were also associated with death by neoplasms [hazard ratio (HR) 1.11, 95% CI 1.06-1.15], circulatory diseases (HR 1.06, 95% CI 1.01-1.11) and respiratory diseases (HR 1.15, 95% CI 1.05-1.26) among ever smokers. The association was stronger among ever than never smokers for all-cause mortality (p < 0.001), neoplasms (p = 0.001) and respiratory diseases (p = 0.038). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate a causal effect of smoking intensity on all-cause mortality and death by neoplasms and respiratory diseases. There was weaker evidence of a causal effect of smoking intensity on death by circulatory diseases.
BACKGROUND: Smoking is an important cause of mortality and recent studies have suggested that even low-intensity smoking might be associated with increased mortality. Still, smoking is associated with lower socio-economic status as well as other potential risk factors, and disease onset might motivate smoking cessation, thus residual confounding and reverse causality might bias results. We aimed to assess the evidence of a causal relationship between smoking intensity and cause-specific as well as all-cause-mortality using Mendelian randomization analyses. METHODS: We included 56 019 participants from the Norwegian HUNT2 Study and 337 103 participants from UK Biobank, linked to national registry data on causes of death. We estimated associations of self-reported smoking as well as the genetic variant rs1051730 as an instrument for smoking intensity with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. We subsequently meta-analysed the results from the two cohorts. RESULTS: Each effect allele of the rs1051730 was associated with a 9% increased hazard of all-cause mortality [95% confidence interval (CI) 6-11] among ever smokers. Effect alleles were also associated with death by neoplasms [hazard ratio (HR) 1.11, 95% CI 1.06-1.15], circulatory diseases (HR 1.06, 95% CI 1.01-1.11) and respiratory diseases (HR 1.15, 95% CI 1.05-1.26) among ever smokers. The association was stronger among ever than never smokers for all-cause mortality (p < 0.001), neoplasms (p = 0.001) and respiratory diseases (p = 0.038). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate a causal effect of smoking intensity on all-cause mortality and death by neoplasms and respiratory diseases. There was weaker evidence of a causal effect of smoking intensity on death by circulatory diseases.