Genetic predispositions moderate the effectiveness of tobacco excise taxes.

Cornelius A. Rietveld,Eric A. W. Slob

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0259210

Abstract

BackgroundTobacco consumption is one of the leading causes of preventable death. In this study, we analyze whether someone’s genetic predisposition to smoking moderates the response to tobacco excise taxes.MethodsWe interact polygenic scores for smoking behavior with state-level tobacco excise taxes in longitudinal data (1992-2016) from the US Health and Retirement Study (N = 12,058).ResultsSomeone’s genetic propensity to smoking moderates the effect of tobacco excise taxes on smoking behavior along the extensive margin (smoking vs. not smoking) and the intensive margin (the amount of tobacco consumed). In our analysis sample, we do not find a significant gene-environment interaction effect on smoking cessation.ConclusionsWhen tobacco excise taxes are relatively high, those with a high genetic predisposition to smoking are less likely (i) to smoke, and (ii) to smoke heavily. While tobacco excise taxes have been effective in reducing smoking, the gene-environment interaction effects we observe in our sample suggest that policy makers could benefit from taking into account the moderating role of genes in the design of future tobacco control policies.

Highlights

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the world, causing over 7 million deaths per year [1]
Using data from from the Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (TUS-CPS) [42], we find that controlling for the presence of clean indoor air laws (CIALs) and anti-smoking sentiment barely changes the estimated G×E interactions
Due to the adverse health effects of tobacco consumption, we expect smokers to pass away on a relatively young age. This could lead to bias in our estimates due to selection in the analysis sample, because Health and Retirement Study (HRS) respondent may not have survived until genetic data collection

Summary

Results

Someone’s genetic propensity to smoking moderates the effect of tobacco excise taxes on smoking behavior along the extensive margin (smoking vs. not smoking) and the intensive margin (the amount of tobacco consumed). We do not find a significant gene-environment interaction effect on smoking cessation

Conclusions

Introduction

Discussion and conclusion