Smoking Data

Smoking data harmonized from FinnGen registers (March 2026).

The file contains smoking measurements from FinnGen registers in longitudinal format, with one row per measurement event per person. It also includes an aggregated person-level ever-smoker/never-smoker variable. Persons with no smoking information in any register have a single row with FINNGENID only and empty values in all other columns.

File structure

Data

File	Description
smoking_harmonized_longitudinal_v2.tsv.gz	Smoking data harmonized from FinnGen registers

Path of the data: /finngen/library-red/finngen_R14/harmonized_data/smoking_data/

Misc

Data description

• Number of persons: 519972

• Number of persons with at least one smoking measurement: 402348

• Number of persons without any smoking information: 117624

• Number of measurement events: 2875465

Data fields

Field	Description
FINNGENID	FINNGENID
APPROX_EVENT_DAY	Date of the smoking measurement
SMOKE	Smoking status at the measurement
SMOKE_AGE	Age in years at the measurement
SOURCE1	The source of the measurement
SOURCE2	Further detail within SOURCE1, e.g. specific biobank or data source
EVER_SMOKER	Person-level aggregate: YES if any measurement indicates smoking (CURRENT, EVER, FORMER), NO if all measurements indicate non-smoking (NEVER, NO, PASSIVE). Same value across all rows per person.

Data sources

SOURCE1 value	Register source	Code and smoking classification
DLCO	DLCO data from biobanks	Biobank specific
EXTENDED_HILMO	Hilmo and AvoHilmo structural smoking status	See here.
KANTA_DELIVERY	Kanta medication delivery	Nicotine patches and gum/smoking cessation meds: N07BA01, N07BA03, N07BA04
KANTA_LAB	Kanta lab measurements	Lab measurement u-cot > 200 ng/ml classified as smoker following HUS reference values
KANTA_PRESCRIPTION	Kanta medicine prescriptions	Nicotine patches and gum/smoking cessation meds: N07BA01, N07BA03, N07BA04
MINIMUM_EXTENDED	Baseline data at biobank intake	Biobank specific
SERVICE_SECTOR_DETAILED_LONGITUDINAL_ICD	Hilmo inpatient and outpatient and AvoHilmo cause of visit	ICD-10: F17, F17.1, F17.2, F17.20, F17.29, F17.3, F17.8, F17.9, Z72.0, Z71.6, T65.2, K13.21, K03.61; ICD 8/9: 98990, 3051A
SERVICE_SECTOR_DETAILED_LONGITUDINAL_ICPC	AvoHilmo cause of visit	ICPC2 code P17 (tobacco abuse)
SERVICE_SECTOR_DETAILED_LONGITUDINAL_MOP	AvoHilmo dental health care measures	Smoking status yes/no
SERVICE_SECTOR_DETAILED_LONGITUDINAL_NOM	Surgical procedures from Hilmo inpatient and outpatient registers	Nomesco code IHA22 (smoking intervention)
SERVICE_SECTOR_DETAILED_LONGITUDINAL_PURCH	Kela drug purchase register	Nicotine patches and gum/smoking cessation meds: N07BA01, N07BA03, N07BA04
SPIROMETRY	Spirometry data from biobanks. Limited to biobanks that recorded smoking status.	Biobank specific

Smoking variable values

Available values of the SMOKE variable depend on the source register, as the registers have information on different levels of accuracy. The smoking status has been harmonized to the following possible values:

SMOKE value	Description
CURRENT	Current smoker
EVER	Has smoked at some time (not known if current or former)
FORMER	Former smoker
NEVER	Never smoked
NO	Not a smoker currently
PASSIVE	Passive smoker

Data notes

Smoking measurements recorded at age 12 or younger were removed, as they're unlikely to reflect established smoking behavior.

The smoking status combined from many registers may contain inconsistencies across the measurements of the individual. 5500 individuals transition from ever-smoker to never-smoker, which should not be possible. 2107 individuals have smoking measurements on the same day with different smoking statuses, either from the same register or from different registers.

Many of the registers only record current smokers, with non-smokers left unrecorded, biasing the data towards smokers.

Duplicate measurements have been removed.