Shows heavy smoking can have a damaging effect on facial ageing

Heavy smoking may have a causal effect on facial ageing, according to new research led by the University of Bristol. The study searched across 18,000 traits from the UK Biobank cohort to identify those that may be affected by how heavily someone smokes. As well as recognising several known adverse effects such as on lung health, the research also found heavy smoking could influence appearance. The study, published in PLOS Genetics , was led by the University's MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) and also supported by the NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The researchers wanted to demonstrate a new approach that could be used to systematically test for causal effects across thousands of outcomes, by combining two existing methods: the Mendelian randomization phenome-wide association study approach and gene-by-environment interaction tests. To test their new method, the Bristol team searched for the effects of heavy smoking using the UK Biobank cohort. The research team found their approach worked, as their results included several known effects of heavier smoking e.g. on lung function.