ArticleAddiction (Abingdon, England)2022
Using Mendelian randomization to explore the gateway hypothesis: possible causal effects of smoking initiation and alcohol consumption on substance use outcomes.
Article in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Mendelian randomization analysis: causal link between hyperthyroidism/thyrotoxicosis and ovarian cancer.Discover oncology · 2025Article
- The gateway effect of cigarette, e-cigarette, cigar, and alcohol use vs. Cannabis use.Addictive behaviors · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of an Interactive Digital Intervention Program on Knowledge, Health Literacy, and Learner Engagement in Senior High School Students: Intragroup and Intergroup Comparison of 2 Teaching Models.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Association Between Cannabis Use and Neuropsychiatric Disorders: A Two-sample Mendelian Randomization Study.Alpha psychiatry · 2025Article
- Bayesian causal graphical model for joint Mendelian randomization analysis of multiple exposures and outcomes.American journal of human genetics · 2025Article
- Antihypertensive Drugs and Dental Caries Risk: A Drug-Target Mendelian Randomization Analysis.International journal of genomics · 2025Article
- The genetic landscape of substance use disorders.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Review
- The casual relationship between autoimmune diseases and multiple myeloma: a Mendelian randomization study.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2024Article
- Climate Change and Substance-Use Behaviors: A Risk-Pathways Framework.Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2023Article
- The genetic aetiology of cannabis use: from twin models to genome-wide association studies and beyond.Translational psychiatry · 2022Review
- Using Mendelian randomization to explore the gateway hypothesis: possible causal effects of smoking initiation and alcohol consumption on substance use outcomes.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Article
- Using Instrumental Variables to Measure Causation over Time in Cross-Lagged Panel Models.Multivariate behavioral researchArticle
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsInitial use of drugs such as tobacco and alcohol may lead to subsequent more problematic drug use-the 'gateway' hypothesis. However, observed associations may be due to a shared underlying risk factor, such as trait impulsivity. We used bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) to test the gateway hypothesis.
designOur main method was inverse-variance weighted (IVW) MR, with other methods included as sensitivity analyses (where consistent results across methods would raise confidence in our primary results). MR is a genetic instrumental variable approach used to support stronger causal inference in observational studies. SETTING AND
participantsGenome-wide association summary data among European ancestry individuals for smoking initiation, alcoholic drinks per week, cannabis use and dependence, cocaine and opioid dependence (n = 1749-1 232 091). MEASUREMENTS: Genetic variants for exposure.
findingsWe found evidence of causal effects from smoking initiation to increased drinks per week [(IVW): β = 0.06; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.03-0.09; P = 9.44 × 10
conclusionsBidirectional Mendelian randomization testing of the gateway hypothesis reveals that smoking initiation may lead to increased alcohol consumption, cannabis use and cannabis dependence. Cannabis use may also lead to smoking initiation and opioid dependence to alcohol consumption. However, given that tobacco and alcohol use typically begin before other drug use, these results may reflect a shared risk factor or a bidirectional effect for cannabis use and opioid dependence.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.