TY - JOUR
T1 - Bidirectional effects between loneliness, smoking and alcohol use: evidence from a Mendelian randomization study
AU - Wootton, Robyn E.
AU - Greenstone, Harriet S. R.
AU - Abdellaoui, Abdel
AU - Denys, Damiaan
AU - Verweij, Karin J. H.
AU - Munafò, Marcus R.
AU - Treur, Jorien L.
N1 - Funding Information: M.R.M. is a member of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, a UKCRC Public Health Research: Centre of Excellence. Funding from British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged. This work was supported by the Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, which is supported by the Medical Research Council and the University of Bristol (grant MC_UU_12013/7). J.L.T. is supported by a Rubicon grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO; grant number 446‐16‐009) as well as a Veni grant (NWO; grant number 016.Veni.195.016). K.J.H.V., A.A. and J.L.T. are supported by the Foundation Volksbond Rotterdam. A.A. is supported by ZonMw grant 849200011 from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development. This study was supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the National Institute for Health Research or the Department of Health and Social Care. Funding Information: M.R.M. is a member of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, a UKCRC Public Health Research: Centre of Excellence. Funding from British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged. This work was supported by the Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, which is supported by the Medical Research Council and the University of Bristol (grant MC_UU_12013/7). J.L.T. is supported by a Rubicon grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO; grant number 446-16-009) as well as a Veni grant (NWO; grant number 016.Veni.195.016). K.J.H.V., A.A. and J.L.T. are supported by the Foundation Volksbond Rotterdam. A.A. is supported by ZonMw grant 849200011 from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development. This study was supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the National Institute for Health Research or the Department of Health and Social Care. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors. Addiction published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of Addiction Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/2
Y1 - 2021/2
N2 - Background and Aims: Loneliness is associated with cigarette smoking and problematic alcohol use. Observational evidence suggests these associations arise because loneliness increases substance use; however, there is potential for reverse causation (problematic drinking damages social networks, leading to loneliness). With conventional epidemiological methods, controlling for (residual) confounding and reverse causality is difficult. This study applied Mendelian randomization (MR) to assess bidirectional causal effects among loneliness, smoking behaviour and alcohol (mis)use. MR uses genetic variants as instrumental variables to estimate the causal effect of an exposure on an outcome, if the assumptions are satisfied. Design: Our primary method was inverse-variance weighted (IVW) regression and the robustness of these findings was assessed with five different sensitivity methods. Setting: European ancestry. Participants: Summary-level data were drawn from the largest available independent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of loneliness (n = 511 280), smoking (initiation (n = 249 171), cigarettes per day (n = 249 171) and cessation (n = 143 852), alcoholic drinks per week (n = 226 223) and alcohol dependence (n = 46 568). Measurements: Genetic variants predictive of the exposure variable were selected as instruments from the respective GWAS. Findings: There was weak evidence of increased loneliness leading to higher likelihood of initiating smoking, smoking more cigarettes, and a lower likelihood of quitting smoking. Additionally, there was evidence that initiating smoking increases loneliness [IVW, β = 0.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.22–0.38, P = 2.8 × 10−13]. We found no clear evidence for a causal effect of loneliness on drinks per week (IVW, β = 0.01, 95% CI = −0.11, 0.13, P = 0.865) or alcohol dependence (IVW, β = 0.09, 95% CI = −0.19, 0.36, P = 0.533) nor of alcohol use on loneliness (drinks per week IVW, β = 0.09, 95% CI = −0.02, 0.22, P = 0.076; alcohol dependence IVW, β = 0.06, 95% CI = −0.02, 0.13, P = 0.162). Conclusions: There appears to be tentative evidence for causal, bidirectional, increasing effects between loneliness and cigarette smoking, especially for smoking initiation increasing loneliness.
AB - Background and Aims: Loneliness is associated with cigarette smoking and problematic alcohol use. Observational evidence suggests these associations arise because loneliness increases substance use; however, there is potential for reverse causation (problematic drinking damages social networks, leading to loneliness). With conventional epidemiological methods, controlling for (residual) confounding and reverse causality is difficult. This study applied Mendelian randomization (MR) to assess bidirectional causal effects among loneliness, smoking behaviour and alcohol (mis)use. MR uses genetic variants as instrumental variables to estimate the causal effect of an exposure on an outcome, if the assumptions are satisfied. Design: Our primary method was inverse-variance weighted (IVW) regression and the robustness of these findings was assessed with five different sensitivity methods. Setting: European ancestry. Participants: Summary-level data were drawn from the largest available independent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of loneliness (n = 511 280), smoking (initiation (n = 249 171), cigarettes per day (n = 249 171) and cessation (n = 143 852), alcoholic drinks per week (n = 226 223) and alcohol dependence (n = 46 568). Measurements: Genetic variants predictive of the exposure variable were selected as instruments from the respective GWAS. Findings: There was weak evidence of increased loneliness leading to higher likelihood of initiating smoking, smoking more cigarettes, and a lower likelihood of quitting smoking. Additionally, there was evidence that initiating smoking increases loneliness [IVW, β = 0.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.22–0.38, P = 2.8 × 10−13]. We found no clear evidence for a causal effect of loneliness on drinks per week (IVW, β = 0.01, 95% CI = −0.11, 0.13, P = 0.865) or alcohol dependence (IVW, β = 0.09, 95% CI = −0.19, 0.36, P = 0.533) nor of alcohol use on loneliness (drinks per week IVW, β = 0.09, 95% CI = −0.02, 0.22, P = 0.076; alcohol dependence IVW, β = 0.06, 95% CI = −0.02, 0.13, P = 0.162). Conclusions: There appears to be tentative evidence for causal, bidirectional, increasing effects between loneliness and cigarette smoking, especially for smoking initiation increasing loneliness.
KW - Alcohol dependence
KW - Mendelian randomization
KW - alcohol use
KW - health behaviours
KW - loneliness
KW - smoking behaviour
KW - social isolation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087310229&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1111/add.15142
DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/add.15142
M3 - Article
C2 - 32542815
SN - 0965-2140
VL - 116
SP - 400
EP - 406
JO - Addiction
JF - Addiction
IS - 2
ER -