Smoking status and smoking quantity are the strongest risk factors for PAD in the general population.6 In prior GWAS, the lead variant at the CHRNA3 locus overlapped with variants that were also associated with predisposition to become a smoker, smoking quantity, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.28 The same variant showed interaction with smoking status reflecting the association of the locus with predisposition to smoking and that the association with increased smoking quantity is an important risk factor for PAD in smokers. Here, CHRNA3 is linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.