A Link between Adolescent Nicotine Metabolism and Smoking Topography

Abstract

Adult slow nicotine metabolizers have lower smoke exposure, carbon monoxide levels, and plasma nicotine levels than normal and fast metabolizers. Emerging evidence suggests nicotine metabolism influences smoking topography. This study investigated the association of nicotine metabolism (the ratio of plasma 3-hydroxycotinine to cotinine; 3OHCOT/COT) with smoking topography in adolescent smokers (n = 85; 65% female, 68% European American; mean age, 15.3 F 1.2 years; mean cigarettes per day, 18.5 F 8.5; mean Fagerströ m Test for Nicotine Dependence, 7.0 F 1.2) presenting for a nicotine replacement therapy trial. Measures obtained included puff volume, interpuff interval, number of puffs, puff duration, and puff velocity. Linear regression analysis controlling for hormonal contraception use showed that 3OHCOT/ COT ratios predicted mean puff volume in the overall sample (t = 2.126; P = 0.037; adjusted R 2 = 0.067). After gender stratification, faster metabolism predicted higher mean puff volume (t = 2.81; P = 0.009; adjusted R 2 = 0.192) but fewer puffs (t = À3.160; P = 0.004; adjusted R 2 = 0.237) and lower mean puff duration (t = À2.06; P = 0.048; adjusted R 2 = 0.101) among boys only, suggesting that as nicotine metabolism increases, puff volume increases but puffing frequency decreases. No significant relationships were found between nicotine metabolism and total puff volume, mean puff duration, interpuff interval, or puff velocity. If confirmed in a broader sample of adolescent smokers, these findings suggest that as among dependent adult smokers, rate of metabolism among adolescent boys is linked to select parameters of puffing behavior that may affect cessation ability. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(5):1578 -83)

Systematic review of the relationship between the 3-hydroxycotinine/cotinine ratio and cigarette dependence

“…Malaiyandi et al (2006) Plasma ratio from regular smokers, N=152 Individuals with at least one *2, *7, *9, or *12 CYP2A6 allelic variant had significantly slower ratios than wild types. CPD not associated with ratio Moolchan et al (2009) Plasma ratio obtained from ad libitum smoker prior to NRT smoking cessation trial, N=85 (adolescent sample)…”

“…Among adolescents, the ratio explained 6.7% of the variance in mean puff volume across the entire sample (Moolchan et al 2009). For males, the ratio was positively associated with mean puff volume, explaining 19.2% of the variance, and negatively associated with puff number and mean puff duration, explaining 23.7% and 10.1% of the respective variances.…”

Smoking behaviour and compensation: A review of the literature with meta-analysis

“…The ratio of 3 0 -hydroxycotinine (OH-cot)/cotinine determined in blood or saliva is commonly used for phenotyping. Genotyping of CYP2A6 is more frequently used (Ando et al, 2003;Fujieda et al, 2004;Iwahashi et al, 2004;Malaiyandi et al, 2006;Minematsu et al, 2003;O'Loughlin et al, 2004;Pianezza et al, 1998;Rao et al, 2000;Sabol and Hamer, 1999;Schoedel et al, 2004;Strasser et al, 2007b) than phenotyping (Benowitz et al, 2003;Malaiyandi et al, 2006;Moolchan et al, 2009). The variants of the CYP2A6 gene and their impact on the nicotine metabolism are briefly described in Table G (Supplementary data No 3).…”

Tobacco Use and Suicidality: Latent Patterns of Co-occurrence Among Black Adolescents

“…As it pertains to tobacco use, research has shown that Black s metabolize nicotine more slowly than some other ethnic groups (potentially due to differences of genetic variants involved in nicotine metabolism), which may result in a unique pattern of smoking heaviness and frequency in Black adolescents ( Moolchan, Franken, & Jaszyna-Gasior, 2006 ;Moolchan et al, 2009 ;Schoedel, Hoffmann, Rao, Sellers, & Tyndale, 2004 ). Specifically, it is expected that a greater proportion of Black youth who report current smoking will also report low numbers of cigarettes per day.…”