Association of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit alpha-4 polymorphisms with smoking behaviors in Chinese male smokers

Background it has been reported that the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit a4 gene （CHRNA4） might be associated with smoking behaviors in the previous studies. Up to now, there are few reports on the relationship between CHRNA4 and smoking initiation, in this study, we tried to explore the role of two polymorphisms in CHRNA4 （rs1044396 and rs1044397） in smoking initiation and nicotine dependence in Chinese male smokers. Methods Nine hundred and sixty-six Chinese male lifetime nonsmokers and smokers were assessed by the Fagerstr6m test for nicotine dependence （FTND）, smoking quantity （SQ） and the heaviness of smoking index （HSI）.