Anabasine and Anatabine Exposure Attributable to Cigarette Smoking: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013–2014

Abstract

Anabasine and anatabine are minor alkaloids in tobacco products and are precursors for tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs). The levels of these two compounds have been used to differentiate tobacco product sources, monitor compliance with smoking cessation programs, and for biomonitoring in TSNA-related studies. The concentrations of urinary anabasine and anatabine were measured in a representative sample of U.S. adults who smoked cigarettes (N = 770) during the 2013–2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) study cycle, which was the first cycle where urinary anabasine and anatabine data became available. Weighted geometric means (GM) and geometric least squares means (LSM) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated for urinary anabasine and anatabine categorized by tobacco-use status [cigarettes per day (CPD) and smoking frequency] and demographic characteristics. Smoking ≥20 CPD was associated with 3.6× higher anabasine GM and 4.8× higher anatabine GM compared with smoking <10 CPD. Compared with non-daily smoking, daily smoking was associated with higher GMs for urinary anabasine (1.41 ng/mL vs. 6.28 ng/mL) and anatabine (1.62 ng/mL vs. 9.24 ng/mL). Urinary anabasine and anatabine concentrations exceeded the 2 ng/mL cut point in 86% and 91% of urine samples from people who smoke (PWS) daily, respectively; in comparison, 100% of them had serum cotinine concentrations greater than the established 10 ng/mL cut point. We compared these minor tobacco alkaloid levels to those of serum cotinine to assess their suitability as indicators of recent tobacco use at established cut points and found that their optimal cut point values would be lower than the established values. This is the first time that anabasine and anatabine are reported for urine collected from a U.S. population-representative sample of NHANES study participants, providing a snapshot of exposure levels for adults who smoked during 2013–2014. The results of this study serve as an initial reference point for future analysis of NHANES cycles, where changes in the national level of urinary anabasine and anatabine can be monitored among people who smoke to show the effect of changes in tobacco policy.

Role of untargeted omics biomarkers of exposure and effect for tobacco research

“…Profiling can be focused on a priori hypotheses, for example in tobacco research this can assess pathways known to be involved in carcinogenesis as hallmarks of cancer [ 1 ], or xenobiotic metabolism of carcinogens and other toxicants. For each omics type bioinformatic methods and databases are available to associate features with pathways and assess the magnitude of impacts on the pathway [ 2 ].…”

“…Analytic approaches have been summarized by Kaur and coworkers [ 4 ], Kim and Tagkopouos [ 3 ] and Reel and coworkers [ 2 ]. They note advantages and disadvantages for analytic tools for machine learning.…”

“…Biomarkers in tobacco studies are intended to elucitate pathways for disease risk, and more recently for the comparison of emerging tobacco products compared to conventional tobacco products and never use. The primary use of biomarkers in smoking cessation studies focus mainly on compliance of specific tobacco-smoke constituents, such as cotinine, anatabine, anasabine and nicotelline [ 1 , 2 ]. However, with a rapidly expanding tobacco marketplace, mostly with non-combustible products (e.g., electronic cigarettes [e-cigs], heat and not burn tobacco products [HTPs] and oral nicotine pouches), there is a need for additional study of the relative harms for tobacco users switching to other products rather than complete cessation of all nicotine products.…”

Improving Wastewater-Based Tobacco Use Estimates Using Anabasine

“…The minor tobacco alkaloids, anabasine and anatabine, were present in cigarettes but absent in NRT products or less than 0.6% of nicotine content in vaping products . Recent studies suggest that anabasine and anatabine can be used as biomarkers to differentiate tobacco use from the use of NRT products. , These two compounds have been used for this purpose in tobacco cessation programs and were first evaluated for application in WBE by Tscharke et al…”

“…13 Recent studies suggest that anabasine and anatabine can be used as biomarkers to differentiate tobacco use from the use of NRT products. 14,15 These two compounds have been used for this purpose in tobacco cessation programs 16 and were first evaluated for application in WBE by Tscharke et al 17 Lai et al 18 measured anabasine and anatabine in wastewater samples in Belgium and reported a stable weekly mass load pattern. More recent studies have used anabasine and anatabine to assess long-term trends of tobacco use in different Australian cities between 2012 and 2017, showing a quicker decrease of tobacco use than nicotine use.…”