Tobacco Smoke Exposure and Serum Cotinine in a Random Sample of Adults Living in Verona, Italy

Abstract

In this study, the authors attempted to validate answers to smoking-habit questions contained in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey questionnaire. The respondents were invited to visit the chest clinic at Verona, Italy, and their serum cotinine levels were measured. The authors invited each of 504 subjects to complete a respiratory interview and to give a blood sample for a radioimmunoassay serum cotinine measurement. A total of 375 subjects responded, of whom 129 were smokers (34.4%), 79 were exsmokers (21.1%), and 167 (44.5%) had never smoked. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke was reported by 216 subjects (57.6% [mean exposure = 3.8 hr/day (+/- 3.4 hr/day standard deviation)]). In smokers, serum cotinine levels were directly related to the number of cigarettes smoked/day. The authors excluded from analysis nonsmokers who had serum cotinine levels that were > or = 14 ng/ml, and the resulting mean values were 1.7 ng/ml (+/- 2.1 ng/ml standard deviation) in nonsmokers unexposed to environmental tobacco smoke and 2.6 ng/ml (+/- 2.6 ng/ml standard deviation) (p < .002) in nonsmokers exposed to environmental tobacco smoke. There was a relationship between serum cotinine levels and hours of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (R2 = .136, p < .05). Serum cotinine, which is an objective and accepted measure of tobacco exposure, confirmed the validity of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey questionnaire with respect to smoking habits and environmental tobacco smoke exposure.

The Association of a Tobacco-Specific Biomarker and Cigarette Consumption and Its Dependence on Host Characteristics

“…At higher CPD, the relationship has been observed to increase without diminution (19,23,25,26), increase but at a diminished rate (17, 19-21, 24, 27), or increase to a plateau and possibly even decline (4,16,19,22). In our data, urinary cotinine concentration diminished at higher CPD.…”

“…Previous reports suggest a linear relationship between cotinine and CPD under 20 to 25 CPD (4,(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27). At higher CPD, the relationship has been observed to increase without diminution (19,23,25,26), increase but at a diminished rate (17, 19-21, 24, 27), or increase to a plateau and possibly even decline (4,16,19,22).…”

Changes in active and passive smoking in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey

“…Results from previous studies indicate that self-reported data on these issues are fairly reliable [29,30]. The current authors also lack information regarding smoking cessation interventions, but as the participants were from general population samples, the numbers that have participated in such an intervention is probably small.…”

Current research on cigarette toxicity: critical appraisal in view of clinical laboratory

“…21 Researchers have also used high performance liquid chromatography, radio immunoassay and enzyme immunoassay for measuring markers of cigarette toxicity in body fluids. [22][23][24][25] Non-invasive techniques (such as Pulse Oximetry based on absorbance at particular wavelengths) are also commonly used for measuring carboxyhaemoglobin and carbon monoxide concentration apart from classical measurement of these analytes in blood by spectrophotometric techniques. 26,27 Metabolites use in detecting smoking status…”