Cigarette smoking is associated with considerable morbidity, mortality, and public health costs.
Genetic factors have been conclusively shown to influence both smoking initiation and nicotine dependence, but none of the genes involved have yet been conclusively identified. A genome scan was conducted to identify chromosomal regions linked to nicotine dependence in a collection of 130 families containing 308 nicotine dependent individuals from Christchurch, New Zealand. The best evidence for linkage was found with a marker on chromosome two which resulted in a heterogeneity LOD score of 2.63.