MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK.
Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK.
Nat Commun. 2019 Jul 3;10(1):2949. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-10679-y.
Recent analyses have shown educational attainment to be associated with a number of health outcomes. This association may, in part, be due to an effect of educational attainment on smoking behaviour. In this study, we apply a multivariable Mendelian randomisation design to determine whether the effect of educational attainment on smoking behaviour is due to educational attainment or general cognitive ability. We use individual data from the UK Biobank study (N = 120,050) and summary data from large GWA studies of educational attainment, cognitive ability and smoking behaviour. Our results show that more years of education are associated with a reduced likelihood of smoking that is not due to an effect of general cognitive ability on smoking behaviour. Given the considerable physical harms associated with smoking, the effect of educational attainment on smoking is likely to contribute to the health inequalities associated with differences in educational attainment.
最近的分析表明，教育程度与许多健康结果有关。这种关联可能部分归因于教育程度对吸烟行为的影响。在这项研究中，我们应用多变量孟德尔随机化设计来确定教育程度对吸烟行为的影响是由于教育程度还是一般认知能力。我们使用来自英国生物库研究（N=120050）的个体数据和关于教育程度、认知能力和吸烟行为的大型全基因组关联研究的汇总数据。我们的结果表明，受教育年限越长，吸烟的可能性越低，这并不是由于一般认知能力对吸烟行为的影响所致。鉴于吸烟与相当多的身体伤害有关，教育程度对吸烟的影响可能导致与教育程度差异相关的健康不平等。
