Stratification by smoking status reveals an association of CHRNA5-A3-B4 genotype with body mass index in never smokers

Amy E Taylor, Richard W Morris, Meg E Fluharty, Johan H Bjorngaard, Bjørn Olav Åsvold, Maiken E Gabrielsen, Archie Campbell, Riccardo Marioni, Meena Kumari, Jenni Hällfors, Satu Männistö, Pedro Marques-Vidal, Marika Kaakinen, Alana Cavadino, Iris Postmus, Lise Lotte N Husemoen, Tea Skaaby, Tarun Veer Singh Ahluwalia, Jorien L Treur, Gonneke WillemsenCaroline Dale, S Goya Wannamethee, Jari Lahti, Aarno Palotie, Katri Räikkönen, Aliaksei Kisialiou, Alex McConnachie, Sandosh Padmanabhan, Andrew Wong, Christine Dalgård, Lavinia Paternoster, Yoav Ben-Shlomo, Jessica Tyrrell, John Horwood, David M Fergusson, Martin A Kennedy, Tim Frayling, Ellen A Nohr, Lene Christiansen, Kirsten Ohm Kyvik, Diana Kuh, Graham Watt, Johan Eriksson, Peter H Whincup, Jacqueline M Vink, Dorret I Boomsma, George Davey Smith, Debbie Lawlor, Allan Linneberg, Ian Ford, J Wouter Jukema, Christine Power, Elina Hyppönen, Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin, Martin Preisig, Katja Borodulin, Jaakko Kaprio, Mika Kivimaki, Blair H Smith, Caroline Hayward, Pål R Romundstad, Thorkild I A Sørensen, Marcus R Munafò, Naveed Sattar

37 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We previously used a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the CHRNA5-A3-B4 gene cluster associated with heaviness of smoking within smokers to confirm the causal effect of smoking in reducing body mass index (BMI) in a Mendelian randomisation analysis. While seeking to extend these findings in a larger sample we found that this SNP is associated with 0.74% lower body mass index (BMI) per minor allele in current smokers (95% CI -0.97 to -0.51, P = 2.00 × 10(-10)), but also unexpectedly found that it was associated with 0.35% higher BMI in never smokers (95% CI +0.18 to +0.52, P = 6.38 × 10(-5)). An interaction test confirmed that these estimates differed from each other (P = 4.95 × 10(-13)). This difference in effects suggests the variant influences BMI both via pathways unrelated to smoking, and via the weight-reducing effects of smoking. It would therefore be essentially undetectable in an unstratified genome-wide association study of BMI, given the opposite association with BMI in never and current smokers. This demonstrates that novel associations may be obscured by hidden population sub-structure. Stratification on well-characterized environmental factors known to impact on health outcomes may therefore reveal novel genetic associations.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere1004799
JournalP L o S Genetics
Volume10
Issue number12
Pages (from-to)1-6
Number of pages6
ISSN1553-7390
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2014

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