Association of urinary cotinine levels and current status of self-reported passive smoking in academic staff members
Hikari Kogaa,b Yoshiaki Iwasakia Arihiko Kanehirob Yukito Shimizua Masaru Onishia Nobuaki Miyaharab Yasushi Tanimotob Mitsune Tanimotob Toshio Oguraa
aHealth Service Center, Okayama University
bDepartment of Hematology, Oncology, Allergy, and Respiratory Medicine, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences
We measured the cotinine levels in urine and serum of academic staff members and performed a questionnaire survey on smoking and passive smoking to assess the association of cotinine levels and the current status of self-reported passive smoking. We enrolled 506 subjects including current smokers (n=25). Cotinine levels in urine showed significant correlation with those in serum (p<0.001). Most of the subjects (71.1%) answered that they were not exposed to passive smoking based on the survey; however, 20.6% of them were found to be exposed to passive smoking assessed by urinary cotinine level. The questionnaire also revealed that 23.4% of the subjects showed an increase in urinary cotinine levels; however, 62.7% of them were not aware of passive smoking. The concordance rate of self-reported exposure to passive smoking and assessment of passive smoking by urinary cotinine levels was only 65.2%. In summary, a measurement of urinary cotinine levels might be useful for the assessment of passive smoking and prevention of smoking-related disorders.
Passive smoking Environmental tobacco smoke Cotinine Academic staff
Received 25 May 2012 / Accepted 18 Sep 2012
AJRS, 2(3): 175-181, 2013