On the other hand, in a previous study we show that two variants, previously associated with COPD in the CHRNA3/5 locus, were associated with lung function measurements in ever-smokers, but not in never-smokers (van der Plaat et al., 2017), which is in line with the only longitudinal study on the relation between the nicotine receptor variant and annual lung function decline (Budulac et al., 2012). Here, CHRNA3 is linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.