Zhang Ting, Gao Wenjing, Cao Weihua, Zhan Siyan, Lv Jun, Pang Zengchang, Wang Shaojie, Chen Rongfu, Hu Yonghua, Li Liming
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China.
Twin Res Hum Genet. 2012 Aug;15(4):483-90. doi: 10.1017/thg.2012.31.
Though multiple policies have been implemented, the cigarette control in China is still facing a great challenge. At the same time, alcohol drinking has increasingly become a public health problem. Considering cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking often co-occur, a few studies tested the covariance of these phenotypes. However, the genetic and environmental correlation between them among Chinese population has not been determined. The main aim of this study is to fill this gap.
From the Chinese National Twin Registry, we obtained the data on cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking behaviors. The ordinal bivariate genetic analysis was performed to fit the categorical variables. After identifying the best decomposition among the Cholesky, common, and independent pathway model, we established the most parsimonious submodel.
The correlation between current tobacco and alcohol use could be explained by Cholesky model. The shared environmental variances for both phenotypes were dropped to construct the most parsimonious submodel. Furthermore, the most parsimonious submodel showed a moderate correlation (0.32, 95%CI=0.17-0.46) between the genetic components and a negligible non-shared environmental correlation.
As the first bivariate genetic analysis on current tobacco smoking and current alcohol drinking in China, this study suggested a common genetic vulnerability to tobacco and alcohol use in male twins. Further studies should be carried out to track the pertinent genes that are related to the comorbidity of smoking and drinking in Chinese population. Another urgent need is to recognize the behavior-specific environmental risk factors.
尽管已实施多项政策，但中国的控烟工作仍面临巨大挑战。与此同时，饮酒日益成为一个公共卫生问题。鉴于吸烟和饮酒常常同时出现，一些研究对这些表型的协方差进行了测试。然而，中国人群中它们之间的遗传和环境相关性尚未确定。本研究的主要目的是填补这一空白。
从中国国家双胞胎登记处，我们获取了吸烟和饮酒行为的数据。进行有序双变量遗传分析以拟合分类变量。在确定Cholesky、共同和独立路径模型中的最佳分解后，我们建立了最简约的子模型。
当前吸烟与饮酒之间的相关性可用Cholesky模型解释。为构建最简约的子模型，两种表型的共享环境方差被剔除。此外，最简约的子模型显示遗传成分之间存在中等相关性（0.32，95%CI = 0.17 - 0.46），而非共享环境相关性可忽略不计。
作为中国首次对当前吸烟和当前饮酒进行的双变量遗传分析，本研究表明男性双胞胎在吸烟和饮酒方面存在共同的遗传易感性。应开展进一步研究以追踪与中国人群吸烟和饮酒共病相关的相关基因。另一个迫切需求是识别特定行为的环境风险因素。
