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

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 14, pages S65–S70 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a grant (HMP-99-M-09-0006) from the 1999 Good Health R&D Project, at the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Korea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Graduate School of Health Science and Management, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

    Hyojin Kim & Seokju Lee

  2. Department of Environmental Health, Seonam University, Korea

    Youngwook Lim

  3. Envioneer Co., Ltd, Seoul, Korea

    Soungeun Park

  4. Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

    Changsoo Kim & Dongchun Shin

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, Institute of Allergy, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

    Cheinsoo Hong

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  1. Hyojin Kim
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Correspondence to Dongchun Shin.

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Kim, H., Lim, Y., Lee, S. et al. Relationship between environmental tobacco smoke and urinary cotinine levels in passive smokers at their residence. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 14 (Suppl 1), S65–S70 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500360

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