Massive Withdrawal Symptoms and Affective Vulnerability Are Associated with Variants of the CHRNA4 Gene in a Subgroup of Smokers

Peer reviewe

Maternal bonding styles in smokers and non-smokers: a comparative study

BACKGROUND: Parental bonding has been implicated in smoking behavior, and the quality of maternal bonding (MB) has been associated with poor mental health and substance use. However, little is known about the association of MB and the smoking of the offspring. METHODS: In our study, 129 smokers and 610 non-smoker medical students completed the parental bonding instrument, which measures MB along two dimensions: care and overprotection. Four categories can be created by high and low scores on care and overprotection: optimal parenting (OP; high care/low overprotection); affectionless control (ALC; low care/high overprotection); affectionate constraint (AC; high care/high overprotection), and neglectful parenting (NP; low care/low overprotection). Nicotine dependence was assessed by the Fagerstrom Nicotine Dependence Test, exhaled CO level, and daily cigarette consumption (CPD). RESULTS: Higher CPD was significantly associated with lower overprotection (p = 0.016) and higher care (p = 0.023) scores. The odds for being a smoker were significantly higher in the neglectful maternal bonding style compared to the other rearing styles (p = 0.022). Besides, smokers showed significantly higher care and lower overprotection scores with the Mann-Whitney U-test than non-smokers, although these associations did not remain significant in multiple regression models. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that focusing on early life relationship between patient and mother can be important in psychotherapeutic interventions for smoking. Registration trials retrospectively registered

Two-step cluster analysis of three phenotypic variables resulted in three significantly different clusters.

<p>Mean scores are represented as percentages of possible maximum points for each measurements. MNWS, Minnesota Nicotine Withdrawal Scale; ZSDS, Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale.</p

Haplotype association tests on C3 phenotypic cluster in GLM and HapScore tests.

<p>Allelic components of the presented haplotypes are rs3787138, rs1044396 and rs3787140 SNPs, respectively. ^a<i>p_model = 0.018</i>; GLM, general linear model.</p

Descriptive characteristics of the study population.

<p>FTND, Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence; MNWS, Minnesota Nicotine Withdrawal Scale; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder; ZSDS, Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale; SD, standard deviation; MDD, major depressive disorder.</p

Frequencies of different haplotypes in phenotypic clusters.

<p>Allelic components of the presented haplotypes are rs3787138, rs1044396 and rs3787140 SNPs, respectively. ^achi-square test indicated a significantly higher frequency of GCC haplotype in C3 compared to non-C3 clusters.</p

Results of risk analysis of haplotype carrying in different phenotypic clusters.

<p>Allelic components of the presented haplotypes are rs3787138, rs1044396 and rs3787140 SNPs, respectively. OR, odds ratio.</p

MNWS and ZSDS scores and CO levels of the three phenotypic clusters (C1, C2, C3) identified by two-step cluster analysis.

<p>MNWS, Minnesota Nicotine Withdrawal Scale; ZSDS, Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale; SD, standard deviation.</p

Linkage disequilibrium map of the seven investigated SNPs.

<p>1 = rs4522666, 2 = rs6090378, 3 = rs3787138; 4 = rs1044396; 5 = rs3787140, 6 = rs2093107, 7 = rs755203.</p