Genetics affect lung disease and smoking behaviour, study finds

Researchers from the United Kingdom have identified genetic differences that affect the likelihood of whether a person will smoke and the predisposition of heavy smokers and non-smokers to poor lung health.

A study by the UK Biobank Lung Exome Variant Evaluation (UK BiLEVE) team analysed genetic data from UK Biobank (ukbiobank.ac.uk), which recruited 500 000 volunteers aged 40-69 from 2006 to 2010 across the UK for long term follow-up of their health, including collection of blood samples for genetic …