Summary
Ten healthy subjects were exposed to passive smoking at a high level corresponding to 25–30 ppm CO in the ambient air for 3 h. All subjects were exposed at the same time in a climatic chamber especially designed for exposure experiments. Despite an identical exposure rate considerable interindividual variability of subsequent nicotine and cotinine levels in saliva, plasma and 24-h urine were observed. This variability was more prominent in nicotine than in cotinine levels. The kinetic pattern as reflected by saliva levels for up to 24 h was consistent with previous data found in active smokers. Nicotine levels found in saliva were markedly influenced by repeated sampling. This was not the case for cotinine levels. With regard to laboratory techniques RIA seems to be more sensitive than gaschromatography (GC). The results of this study suggest that measuring cotinine levels in 24-h urine with RIA is presently the most sensitive and reliable criterion for estimating exposure to passive smoking and for validating questionnaires or interviews about short-term exposure to passive smoking.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chan WC (1982) Zahlen aus Hongkong. Münch Med Wochenschr 124:16
Colley JRT, Holland WW, Corkhill RT (1974) Influence of passive smoking and parental phlegma on pneumonia and bronchitis in early childhood. Lancet 2, 7888:1031–1034
Comstock GW, Meyer MB, Helsing KJ, Tockman MS (1981) Respiratory effects of household exposure to tobacco smoke and gas cooking. Am Rev Resp Dis 124:143–148
Correa P, Pickle LW, Fontham E, Lin Y, Haenszel W (1983) Passive smoking and lung cancer. Lancet 2, 8350:595–597
Ferguson DM, Harwood LT, Shannon FT, Taylor B (1981) Parental smoking and lower respiratory illness in the first three years of life. J Epidemiol Comm Health 35:180–184
Feyerabend C, Russell MAH (1978) Effect of urinary pH and nicotine excretion rate on plasma nicotine during cigarette smoking and chewing nicotine gum. Br J Clin Pharm 5:293–297
Feyerabend C, Russell MAH (1980) Assay of nicotine in biological materials: sources of contamination. J Pharm Pharmacol 32:178–181
Feyerabend C, Higenbottam T, Russell MAH (1982) Nicotine concentrations in urine and saliva of smokers and non-smokers. Br Med J 1:1002–1004
Foliart D, Benowitz NL, Becker CE (1983) Passive absorption of nicotine in airline flight attendants. N Engl J Med 308:1105
Friedman GD, Pettiti D, Bawol RD (1983) Prevalence and correlates of passive smoking. AJPH 73:401–405
Garfinkel L (1981) Time trends in lung cancer mortality among non-smokers and a note on passive smoking. J Natl Cancer Inst 66:1061–1066
Greenberg RA, Haley NJ, Etzel RA, Loda FA (1984) Measuring the exposure of infants to tobacco smoke. N Engl J Med 310:1075–1078
Haley NJ, Axelrad CM, Tilton KA (1983) Validation of self-reported smoking behavior: Biochemical analyses of cotinine and thiocyanate. AJPH 73:1204–1207
Hirayama T (1981) Non-smoking wives of heavy smokers have a higher risk of lung cancer: a study from Japan. Br Med J 282:183–185
Kauffmann F, Tessier IF, Oriol P (1983) Adult passive smoking in the home environment: a risk factor for chronic airflow limitation. Am J Epidemiol 117:269–280
Knoth A, Bohn H, Schmidt F (1983) Passive smoking as cause of lung cancer in female smokers. Med Klinik 78:54–59
Langone JJ, Gjika HB, Van Vunakis H (1973) Nicotine and its metabolites: radioimmunoassays for nicotine and cotinine. Biochemistry 12:5025–5030
Matsukura S, Taminato T, Kitano N, Seino Y, Hamada H, Uchihashi M, Nakajima H, Hirata Y (1984) Effects of environmental tobacco smoke on urinary cotinine excretion in non-smokers. Evidence for passive smoking. N Engl J Med 311:828–832
Rantakallio P (1978) Relationship of maternal smoking to morbidity and mortality of the child up to the age of five. Acta Paediatr Scand 67:621–631
Russell MAH, Cole PV, Brown E (1973) Absorption by non-smokers of carbon monoxide from room air polluted by tobacco smoke. Lancet 1, 7803:576
Trichopoulos D, Kalandidi A, Sparros L, MacMahon B (1981) Lung cancer and passive smoking. Int J Cancer 27:1–4
Wald NJ, Boreham J, Bailey A, Ritchie C, Haddow JE, Knight G (1984) Urinary cotinine as marker of breathing other people's tobacco smoke. Lancet 1, 8370:230–231
White JR, Froeb HF (1980) Small airways dysfunction in nonsmokers chronically exposed to tobacco smoke. N Engl J Med 302:720–723
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Johnson, L.C., Letzell, H. & Kleinschmidt, J. Passive smoking under controlled conditions. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 56, 99–110 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379381
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379381