rs880395

This cross-population meta-analysis of 32,587 smokers (14,786 European ancestry, 6,889 Asian, 10,912 African American) identified rs16969968 as the only genetic variant in the chromosome 15q25 nicotinic receptor region consistently associated with heavy smoking across all three populations (OR=1.33, 95% CI=1.25-1.42, p=1.1×10⁻¹⁷). Additional variants showed consistent association in European and Asian populations but not African Americans, suggesting rs16969968 is likely a functional causal variant.