Despite increasing public awareness of the health risks related to smoking, nearly 18% of American adults were current cigarette smokers in 2012 (Agaku et al. 2014). Further, although 52.4% of smokers tried to quit, the prevalence of recent cessation for more than 6 months was only 6.2% (Centers for Disease and Prevention 2011). It is likely that morphological changes in the brain are related to chronic exposure to nicotine, which is the addictive component of cigarettes. The joint analysis of structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of the brain and average lifetime use to nicotine may identify locations for more specific studies of the neurobiology of nicotine dependence. Further, the degree to which shared genetic and environmental contributions explain these associations is unclear and could provide additional knowledge in assessing the utility of neuroanatomy as a possible biological marker for understanding the etiology of chronic cigarette use.
