High Prevalence of Smoking in the Roma Population Seems to Have No Genetic Background

Conclusions: The harmful smoking behavior of the Roma population could not be accounted for by genetic susceptibility; therefore, interventions aimed at smoking prevention and cessation should focus on cultural and environmental factors. Implications: This is the first study designed to determine whether genetic background exists behind the harmful behavior of the smoking of the Roma population. Although the frequencies of susceptible and protective alleles strongly differ between the Hungarian Roma and general populations, it is shown that calculated GRSs being significantly higher in the general population, which do not support the hypothesis on the genetic susceptibility of the Roma population. Interventions aimed at smoking cessation in the Roma population should preferentially target cultural and environmental factors.

http://ntr.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/18/12/2260?rss=1

Source: Nicotine and Tobacco Research - November 9, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Fiatal, S., Toth, R., Moravcsik-Kornyicki, A., Kosa, Z., Sandor, J., McKee, M., Adany, R. Tags: Original Investigation Source Type: research