Elimination of cotinine from body fluids: disposition in smokers and nonsmokers.

We have evaluated differences in the elimination of cotinine, a major nicotine metabolite, in smokers who quit smoking and never-smokers who were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) under controlled conditions. The mean biological half-life of cotinine in urine, collected from the nine smokers was 16.5 +/- 1.2 h, in never-smokers exposed to ETS, 27.3 +/- 1.9 h. Differences in the mode of uptake and absorption of nicotine and possible differences in nicotine metabolism may play roles in the clearance rate differences between smokers and nonsmokers.     

Dietary intake of Australian smokers and nonsmokers

Abstract: The 1983 National Dietary Survey of Adults and the 1983 Risk Factor Prevalence Survey No. 2, conducted on the same subjects, provided an opportunity to examine the nutrient intakes of smokers (1024 men and 785 women) and nonsmokers (1974 men and 2421 women). The nutrients analysed were energy (kJ); fat (g/day and contribution to energy); starch (contribution to energy); dietary fibre (g/day and g/1000 kJ); alcohol (g/1000 kJ); polyunsaturated/saturated fats ratio; cholesterol, niacin, vitamin C, calcium, iron, zinc and magnesium (mg/1000 kJ); and vitamin A, thiamin and riboflavin ((μg/1000 kJ). For both men and women, nonsmokers have a significantly higher intake of starch, dietary fibre (g/day and g/1000 kJ), thiamin, vitamin C, calcium and magnesium than smokers, who have a significantly higher intake of alcohol. Male smokers also have a higher intake of energy and cholesterol, but a lower intake of riboflavin, than nonsmokers. These differences in nutrient intakes suggest that non–smokers consume a more nutritious diet than smokers, in regard to having a higher intake of fruit and vegetables, wholegrain cereals and milk and milk products. There is a highly statistically significant association between smoking status and hazardous intake of alcohol. Both men and women who smoke have a significantly lower body mass index (BMI), than nonsmokers or ex–smokers.     

Unrealistic optimism among adolescent smokers and nonsmokers

Two studies were conducted to investigate unrealistic optimism among adolescent cigarette smokers. In the first study, 54 smokers and 304 nonsmokers agreed that there was a strong relationship between smoking and lung cancer. Nonsmokers accurately perceived their chances of contracting lung cancer as below average. However, smokers perceived themselves as having only an average chance of contracting lung cancer. The second study replicated the first in both procedure and results regarding lung cancer, but also added perceptions of the relationship between smoking and two other smoking-related health problems, emphysema and heart attacks. The results were similar: 33 smokers rated their chances of developing emphysema and having heart attacks as higher than 299 nonsmokers, but still viewed their chances as only about average. Finally, perceptions of stress were examined. Smokers perceived themselves to be under more stress than nonsmokers. It was concluded that self-deception as indicated by unrealistic optimism regarding the chances of getting smoking-related diseases characterized adolescent smokers.A version of this paper was presented by the first author at the Southeastern Psychological Association annual meeting in Washington, D.C., March, 1989, as part of a symposium on Adolescent Health Issues in Community Psychology, Jeanne T. Hernadez, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chair. Appreciation is expressed to the students and teachers at Albemarle High School, Charlottesville, Virginia, who participated in this investigation.     

Relationship between environmental tobacco smoke and urinary cotinine levels in passive smokers at their residence

Studies of the health effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) using measured air concentrations are subject to bias. Cotinine, a nicotine metabolite detected in urine, has been recommended as a quantitative measure of nicotine intake and thus as a marker for ETS exposure in humans. The aim of this study was to correlate home indoor ETS levels with passive smokers' urinary cotinine levels. The urinary cotinine concentrations of 57 non-smoking women who spend >19 h a day at home and the nicotine levels in their living room air were measured over a period of 24 h. Nicotine and urinary cotinine levels were analyzed using GC/MS and HPLC/UV, respectively. In addition, information was collected regarding the smoking habits of the subjects' families. A significant correlation was found between the nicotine levels in indoor air and the urinary cotinine to creatinine ratio of the passive smokers. The smoking habits of the subjects' family members were also correlated to the urinary cotinine levels of the passive smokers.     

Relative sensitivity and specificity of salivary and serum cotinine in identifying tobacco-smoking status of self-reported nonsmokers and smokers of tobacco and/or marijuana

Serum and salivary cotinine levels were measured in 327 smoking and nonsmoking participants in a study of the health effects of marijuana with and without tobacco. These individuals had no reason to misrepresent their current tobacco-smoking status. The sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values positive and negative of the cotinine levels in distinguishing self-reported current tobacco smokers from nonsmokers was high (88-100%) and essentially the same for both fluids. Agreement between self-report and cotinine levels was not influenced by the presence or absence of marijuana smoking. A good correlation was found between serum and salivary cotinine levels in self-reported tobacco smokers (r = 0.84, p less than 0.001). Mean average levels were 279 +/- 144 ( +/- standard deviation) ng/ml for serum and 360 +/- 195 ng/ml for saliva. In a separate group of seven tobacco smokers, cotinine levels in saliva were found to be essentially independent of salivary flow rate. An analogous relationship has been observed by others for various compounds that are filtered to saliva from the blood. This may explain the close relationship observed between serum and salivary cotinine levels, and the observation made by others that the half-life of salivary cotinine is similar to that of serum cotinine.     

Heart disease mortality in nonsmokers living with smokers

A private census of Washington County, Maryland, in 1963 obtained information on smoking habits of all adults in the census, and death certificates of all residents who died in the next 12 years were coded for underlying cause of death and matched to the census. Among the white population aged 25 and over, 4,162 men and 14,873 women had never smoked. In this group, death rates from arteriosclerotic heart disease were significantly higher among men (relative risk (RR) = 1.31, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1-1.6) and women (RR = 1.24, 95% CI 1.1-1.4) who lived with smokers in 1963, after adjustment for age, marital status, years of schooling, and quality of housing. Among women, the relative risk increased significantly (p less than 0.005) with increasing level of exposure; among men, there was little evidence of a dose-response relation. The relative risks for nonsmokers who lived with smokers were greatest among both men and women who were younger than age 45 in 1963, but the number of deaths in these groups was small, and confidence intervals were broad. These results suggest a small but measurable risk for arteriosclerotic heart disease among nonsmokers who live with smokers.     

吸烟人群血清可替宁的间接检测法

目的评价血浆可替宁浓度与血清可替宁浓度水平的一致性。方法选择35名吸烟者作为研究对象,采用ELISA试剂盒同步测量吸烟者的血清和血浆可替宁浓度,其中18份样本用于建立两者的预测回归方程,另外17份样本对回归方程进行验证。结果同时测量18名吸烟者的血清和血浆中可替宁浓度,经对数转换后两者均数分别为（4.068±1.74）和（3.371±1.92）ng/mL,预测回归方程为Y^=0.498＋1.002X,常数项（P=0.049）和自变量（P〈0.01）均有统计学意义。17份样本的血清可替宁预测值和实际值的对数均值分别为（4.18±1.84）和（4.10±2.01）ng/mL,配对t检验显示两者差别无统计学意义（P〉0.05）。结论可通过测量血浆可替宁浓度间接测量血清可替宁浓度,结果具有较好的稳定性。     

Dietary antioxidant supplementation and DNA damage in smokers and nonsmokers

Deficiencies of antioxidant nutrients have been implicated in the etiology of lung and other cancers. However, most intervention trials with antioxidant nutrients have not shown beneficial effects, and some have indicated that beta-carotene may be deleterious. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluated the effects of five short-term (4-wk) antioxidant nutrient supplement regimens [ascorbic acid (350 mg), RRR-alpha-tocopherol (250 mg), beta-carotene (60 mg), selenium (80 micrograms as sodium selenite), ascorbic acid (350 mg) + RRR-alpha-tocopherol (250 mg)] on plasma antioxidants and mononuclear leukocyte DNA damage in male smokers (n = 9) and nonsmokers (n = 12). Plasma concentrations of ascorbic acid and tocopherol were significantly increased by supplementation, but there was no significant change in plasma beta-carotene or blood glutathione peroxidase activity after supplementation with beta-carotene or selenium. DNA damage in mononuclear leukocytes, as assessed by comet assay, was not affected by any supplementation regimen. DNA damage, as assessed by 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine in mononuclear leukocytes, was not influenced by ascorbic acid, alpha-tocopherol, or selenium supplementation in smokers or nonsmokers, but beta-carotene supplementation resulted in significant differences between smokers and nonsmokers in the level of oxidative DNA damage, with decreases in smokers and increases in smokers. This is a further indication of the differential effects of supplemental beta-carotene in smokers and nonsmokers.     

Saliva cotinine and recent smoking--evidence for a nonlinear relationship.

Cotinine concentration in various body fluids is considered to be among the most useful markers of nicotine exposure currently available. Despite the prevailing consensus concerning cotinine''s usefulness, cotinine''s large intrasubject variability has led some to question the value of a single-point measurement. Several individual differences (for example, age, race, sex, and so forth) may affect cotinine excretion, and a peculiar nonlinearity between the number of cigarettes smoked and cotinine concentration has been reported previously in the literature. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the nature of the association between cotinine and reported number of cigarettes smoked after adjustment for the relationship between cotinine and age, a key individual difference known to affect drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and tissue sensitivity. The authors examined the relationship between saliva cotinine and daily cigarette consumption in 116 smokers (mean age = 37.4 years; average number of cigarettes smoked daily = 20.1) who logged each cigarette into a hand-held computer as part of a study on the accuracy of recall. The Pearson correlation between saliva cotinine and the logged number of cigarettes smoked in the previous 17 hours (the time window corresponding to the half-life of cotinine) accounted for significantly more of the variance in cotinine than did the average logged number of cigarettes smoked daily during 5 days. Age was also significantly associated with cotinine levels. Further examination of the relationship between cotinine and amount smoked in the previous 17 hours revealed evidence for a significant nonlinear component.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Carbon monoxide levels in the breath of smokers and nonsmokers: effect of domestic heating systems.

Breath and ambient (room) carbon monoxide (CO) levels were measured in a random sample of 168 adults in their own homes. The levels of breath CO in the 69 smokers ranged from 3 ppm to over 100 ppm, 74% being above 10 ppm; mean levels in the 99 nonsmokers were lower than in the smokers, 79% being below 6 ppm. In the remaining 21% of nonsmokers with higher breath levels than expected, the ambient CO was also found to be elevated, ranging up to 38 ppm. A close correlation in the nonsmokers was found between the breath and ambient CO levels (r = 0.952, p less than 0.001). The rooms with the elevated ambient CO levels (above 5 ppm) were those which, at the time of testing, were being heated by gas radiant heaters, open fires or stoves. The maximum ambient CO in the rooms of smokers with non CO generating heating was 16 ppm. The results suggest that many people, both smokers and nonsmokers, may be at risk from CO generated by certain domestic heating systems and that nonsmokers are far more likely to be exposed to high levels of CO from these sources than from being in a room with a heavy smoker. Poor ventilation associated with the current trend towards excluding all draughts is likely to exacerbate the situation for both smokers and nonsmokers.     

Visual processes of smokers and nonsmokers at different ages

Forty smokers and forty nonsmokers were matched for age over the range from 21 to 76 yr. The battery of tests included: optometric refraction for near vision, scotopic sensitivity, simple and choice reaction time, visually evoked cortical potentials to targets flashing at 1 and 16 times/sec, EEG, and a perimetric test of color detection. Roughly the same number of smokers and nonsmokers required spectacle corrections, but smokers tended to require more plus correction. The mean scotopic sensitivity of the smokers was significantly worse than that of the nonsmokers. Reaction time tended to be poorer for the smokers. There were no differences on the perimetry test and in the EEGs of the smokers and nonsmokers, and no significant changes in the visually evoked responses to either 1 or 16 flashes/sec. There was virtually no evidence of an increasing difference between the smokers and nonsmokers with increasing age.     

Determinants of salivary cotinine concentrations in Chinese male smokers

BACKGROUND: Identifying factors that affect cotinine levels in smokers may be useful for smoking cessation programs. Our aims were to characterize the distribution of salivary cotinine levels in Chinese smokers and to investigate factors that influence cotinine concentrations. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 600 Chinese adult smokers answered a questionnaire on smoking habits and provided a saliva sample for cotinine analysis. Modification of the relation between number of cigarettes smoked and cotinine concentration by individual characteristics, smoking behavior, and type of tobacco was evaluated. RESULTS: Quadratic model provided the best fit for the relation between number of cigarettes smoked in the previous 24 hours and salivary cotinine concentration. Among those smoking up to 20 cigarettes, the median cotinine concentration was higher among younger subjects, those smoking cigarettes without filter and regular rather than light cigarettes, and those inhaling frequently and deeply. Such trends were not observed among heavier smokers. The increase in cotinine per cigarette tended to be larger in those with lower median cotinine level. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that smoking behavior-related factors modify the relation between number of cigarettes smoked and salivary cotinine concentration. This suggests that smokers may regulate their smoking behavior to achieve a certain optimum nicotine level.     

The industry manipulation attitudes of smokers and nonsmokers.

A cross-sectional random sample was obtained of Florida youth between the ages of 12-17. Data were collected through a telephone survey after obtaining parent and child consent. Industry manipulation attitudes of three groups (self-identified nonsmokers who did not use cigarettes in the past 30 days, self-identified nonsmokers who used cigarettes in the past 30 days, and self-identified smokers who used cigarettes in the past 30 days) were compared. Constraints resulting from the method of data collection resulted in a conservative estimate of the strength of the association between industry manipulation attitudes and smoking behavior.     

Mutagenicity of urine from young male smokers and nonsmokers

Summary The mutagenicity of urine from a healthy population of young adult men (average age of 23 years), including 61 smokers and 107 nonsmokers, was investigated with the Salmonella/microsome test using the tester strain S. typhymurium TA98. In quantifying the assay, the use of dichloromethane was suitable for eluting the mutagenicity of smokers' urine from the XAD-2 resin column. We assayed mutagenicity in condensates of such dichloromethane eluates and found that the mutagenicity of smokers' urine was significantly higher than that of nonsmokers' urine. In the smokers' group, correlation coefficient between the mutagenicity of the urine and the actual number of cigarettes smoked on the day of urine collection or the average number of cigarettes smoked per day was statistically significant at 0.266 or 0.454, respectively. Our results suggest a correlation between the increase of mutagens in urine and smoking habits.     

Properties of saliva cotinine in young adult light smokers

The half-life of saliva cotinine and its accuracy at detecting light or intermittent smoking were examined. Five subjects provided daily saliva samples for 23 days and quit smoking on day 4. An average of 2.8 days was required for saliva continue to drop below the cutoff for classification as a smoker. All smokers smoked intermittently at various times after day 9. In most cases the smoking of one or two cigarettes was detected in the saliva sample on subsequent days. Saliva cotinine was sensitive to low rates of smoking and to intermittent smoking.