This four-country study examined salivary cotinine as a marker for nicotine intake and addiction among smokers in relation to numbers and types of cigarettes smoked. Smoking characteristics of cigarette smokers in Brazil, China, Mexico, and Poland were identified using a standard questionnaire. Cotinine concentration was measured using a saliva sample from each participant; its relationship wit...

This study investigated the association between biomarkers of fetal exposure to cigarette smoke at the end of pregnancy, cotinine in cord serum and in maternal and newborn urine samples, and quantitative measurement of smoking intake and exposure evaluated by maternal self-reported questionnaire. Study subjects were 429 mothers and their newborns from a hospital in Barcelona, Spain. A questionn...

The formation of cotinine, the main proximate metabolite and a biomarker of nicotine exposure, is mediated primarily by cytochrome P450 (CYP)2A6. Our aim was to determine whether higher cotinine levels in young children exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS) are a result of age-related differences in pharmacokinetics. Forty-nine participants, aged 2-84 months, received oral deuterium-labeled cotinin...

BACKGROUND Smoking is a major risk factor for cot death. Many infants smoke passively as a result of parental smoking. This paper reports on infants exposed to a smoking environment and how they accumulate metabolites of cigarette smoke, such as cotinine, which may be physiologically harmful. AIM To assess cotinine levels in infants of smoking parents. METHOD Cotinine excretion in urine was...

While cotinine is commonly used as a biomarker to validate self-reported smoking status, the selection of an optimal cotinine cutoff value for distinguishing true smokers from true nonsmokers shows a lack of standardization among studies. This review describes how the cutoff values have been derived, and explains the issues involved in the generalization of a cutoff value. In this study, we con...

BACKGROUND Nondaily or intermittent smokers (ITS) are increasingly common, but how much nicotine, if any, ITS take in and how quickly they metabolize it has not yet been studied. METHODS We compared carbon monoxide (CO), urinary cotinine, and nicotine metabolism [nicotine metabolite ratio (NMR): 3-hydroxycotinine:cotinine] in 224 ITS and 222 daily smokers (DS). Effects of gender and ethnicity...

We propose that in utero exposure to tobacco smoke products places a newborn at risk for persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN). To test this hypothesis, infants with PPHN were identified. Healthy newborns of similar ethnicity were identified as a comparison group. Cord blood cotinine concentrations and maternal questionnaires were obtained. The number of women exposed to tobac...

OBJECTIVE To examine the association between objectively assessed secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure and mental health in a representative sample of British children. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Community-based population sample from the 2003 Scottish Health Survey. PARTICIPANTS Nine hundred one nonsmoking children (mean [SD] age, 8.3 [2.5] years). MAIN EXPOSURE Exposure to SHS w...

BACKGROUND Although nicotine dependence plays a role as a main barrier for smoking cessation, there is still a lack of solid evidence on the validity of biomarkers to determine nicotine dependence in clinical settings. This study aimed to investigate whether urinary cotinine levels could reflect the severity of nicotine dependence in active smokers. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data regarding genera...

Background. Few studies have shown that self-reported secondhand smoke exposure in never smokers is associated with high blood pressure. However, there are no studies investigating the relationship between secondhand smoke exposure, measured objectively by serum cotinine levels, and high blood pressure in never smokers. Methods. We examined never smokers (n = 2027) from the National Health and ...