Investigating the Relationship Between Smoking Behavior and Global Brain Volume.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Previous studies have shown that brain volume is negatively associated with cigarette smoking, but there is an ongoing debate about whether smoking causes lowered brain volume or a lower brain volume is a risk factor for smoking. We address this debate through multiple methods that evaluate directionality: Bradford Hill's criteria, which are commonly used to understand a causal relationship in epidemiological studies, and mediation analysis.

Methods

In 32,094 participants of European descent from the UK Biobank dataset, we examined the relationship between a history of daily smoking and brain volumes, as well as an association of genetic risk score to ever smoking with brain volume.

Results

A history of daily smoking was strongly associated with decreased b

SUBMITTER: Chang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10733671 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature