A novel approach for monitoring tobacco use in local communities by wastewater analysis

Abstract

Objective We propose a novel approach for measuring tobacco use in a community through the chemical analysis of nicotine metabolites in urban wastewater. It offers frequent monitoring and 'real-time', 'evidencebased' estimates of tobacco consumption which may complement epidemiological surveillance systems normally repeated only every few years. Methods Two urinary metabolites of nicotine, namely cotinine and trans-3 0 -hydroxycotinine, were selected as biomarkers of tobacco consumption in urban wastewater. During smoking, a known amount of nicotine is absorbed and after metabolism excreted as metabolites in urine, ending up in the wastewater; quantitative analysis of the metabolites in the wastewater allows back-calculation of the nicotine collectively absorbed by the population producing the sewage and, indirectly, their tobacco use. Representative samples of wastewater were collected from sewage treatment plants in eight Italian cities and analysed by mass spectrometry. Mass loads of the metabolites were used to estimate nicotine consumption. Results Wastewater analysis in the cities under study was used to estimate the number of cigarettes smoked, in order to compare the results of this study with those obtained from population surveys. The number of cigarettes calculated with the two methods were closely comparable and wastewater analysis was sufficiently sensitive to confirm the differences in tobacco consumption between northern and southern Italy, previously described in population surveys. Conclusions The described approach can serve as a supplementary indicator of tobacco consumption in local communities. This approach can provide objective and updated information, which are useful to assess the efficacy of tobacco-control interventions, with the aim of designing and implementing effective tobacco control plans.

National monitoring of nicotine use in Czech and Slovak Republic based on wastewater analysis

“…Thus, the explanation of such a high mean value of nicotine in Nitra is more difficult. Similar back-calculation results were obtained also by Castiglioni et al (2015) when analyzing eight Italian cities. They have found out that the number of cigarettes calculated with the two methods was closely comparable and wastewater analysis was sufficiently sensitive to confirm the differences in tobacco consumption between northern and southern Italy, previously described in population surveys.…”

“…Therefore, in the case of nicotine, Lopez et al (Lopes et al 2014) focused mainly on its stable metabolite cotinine. It is a considerably more stable molecule than the parent compound itself, which is also reflected in its concentration in the effluent (often exceeding the value of 1000 ng/L) (Lopes et al 2014;Chen et al 2013;Buerge et al 2008;Castiglioni et al 2015). According to the study of Chen et al (2013), cotinine may be degraded to some extent in the sewage system, where the residence time is an important factor.…”

“…The work of Zuccato et al (2005) was the first applying this procedure. The monitoring of illegal drugs was recently applied in a number of professional publications (Irvine et al 2011;Ort et al 2014;Mackuľak et al 2014;Thomas et al 2012;Castiglioni et al 2015). The fact that during the presentation of European Drug Report 2014: Trends and Developments wastewater analysis was included among the possible ways of monitoring the population in various European countries indicates the high quality of research in this area (EMCDDA 2014).…”

Monitoring Genetic Population Biomarkers for Wastewater-Based Epidemiology

“…The Nalgene 25 mm syringe filters (nylon membrane -pore size of 0.45 μm) were purchased from Thermo Scientific. Gsp SSD DNA polymerase (large fragment), MgSO 4 , and betaine were from OptiGene Ltd. (U.K.). EvaGreen was from Biotium (U.K.).…”

“…W astewater-based epidemiology has recently been shown to be an innovative and promising tool for the estimation of community-wide drug, 1,2 alcohol, 3 and tobacco use, 4 as well as for the monitoring of oxidative stress biomarkers such as F2-isoprostanes. 5 Generally, drug residues and their metabolites, or other biomarkers excreted by humans in a given area (e.g., a city) pool within urban wastewater treatments plants, from which samples can be collected and analyzed.…”