• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5483-5488
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• 2012

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 general characteristics and smoking status was collected using a self-administered smoking questionnaire. The Fagerstr$\ddot{o}$m test for nicotine dependence (FTND) was used to determine nicotine dependence of the participants, and a total of 381 participants were classified into 3 groups of nicotine dependence: low (n=205, 53.8%), moderate (n=127, 33.3%), and high dependence groups (n=49, 12.9%). Stepwise multiple linear regression model and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves analyses were used to determine the validity of urinary cotinine for high nicotine dependence. Results: In correlation analysis, urinary cotinine levels increased with FTND score (r=0.567, P<0.001). ROC curves analysis showed that urinary cotinine levels predicted the high-dependence group with reasonable accuracy (optimal cut-off value=1,000 ng/mL; AUC=0.82; P<0.001; sensitivity=71.4%; specificity=74.4%). In stepwise multiple regression analysis, the total smoking period (${\beta}$=0.042, P=0.001) and urinary cotinine levels (${\beta}$=0.234, P<0.001) were positively associated with nicotine dependence, whereas an inverse association was observed between highest education levels (>16 years) and nicotine dependence (${\beta}$=-0.573, P=0.034). Conclusions: The results of this study support the validity of using urinary cotinine levels for assessment of nicotine dependence in active smokers.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2002

Tobacco smoke was confirmed as a human carcinogen by many research results. Because many adolescents stay long time in the PC game room, they are exposed to much of tobacco smoke. To evaluate the effect of passive smoking in the PC game room, airborne nicotine concentrations in 2 PC game rooms in Sung-nam city and urinary cotinine concentrations were measured for 20 adolescents. And the subjects were interviewed for duration and time in PC game room and smoking pattern. Subjects are composed of each of 10 smokers(5 males and 5 females) and 10 nonsmokers(5 males and 5 females). They stayed for three hours in the PC game room without smoking. Concentrations of nicotine in smokers and nonsmokers were 129.72 $\mu$g/$^3$ and 99.99 $\mu$g/m$^3$, respectively. Urinary cotinine concentrations were increased as time goes on after exposure to nicotine and showed maximum value at 9.45 hours after nicotine exposure and were 32.21 and 110.66 $\mu$g/L for nonsmoker and smokers. The more using time and frequency in PC game room, the higher urinary cotinine maximum concentration and the longer using duration, also the more increase urinary cotinine concentration. Urinary cotinine has a tendency to increase by passive smoking. Therefore, it is recommended that the effective control for indoor air quality and extensive research be needed to reduce nicotine concentration by passive smoking in the PC game room.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.71-76
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• 2001

This study was conducted to determine the urinary nicotine and cotinine concentration in 126 smokers and 143 nonsmokers. While urine samples were being collected, personal characteristics related to smoking habit such as sex, age, number of years since a person has been a smoker, average number of cigarettes consumed per day, and number of smokers in the family were surveyed. Urinary nicotine and cotinine concentration were analyzed by GC/NPD. The smokers smoked an average 17.0 cigarettes per day and the average concentration of nicotine and cotinine was 3.88 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml and 3.64 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml, respectively. The average number of smokers in the family was 0.72 persons and the average concentration of nicotine and cotinine were 0.11 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml and 0.02 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml in the urine of non-smokers, respectively. The concentration of nicotine and cotnine in smoker\`s urine was dependent on the number of cigarettes smoked per day(p<0.01). The number of years since a person had been a smoker, and the number of smokers in the family were not associated with the concentration of nicotine and cotinine. Also there was no significant effects of passive smoking on the family of smokers by the level of nicotine and cotinine concentration. We describe the relationship between smoking habit as assessed by urinary nicotine and cotinine excretion. This study provides an evidence for the assessment of active and passive exposure to tobacco smoke.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.6-8
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• 2002

Many adolescents stay long time in the PC game room and are exposed to much of tobacco smoke. To evaluate the effect of passive smoking in the PC game room, airborne nicotine concentrations and urinary cotinine concentrations were measured for 20 adolescents at 2 PC game rooms in Sung-nam city. And the subjects were interviewed for duration and time in PC game room and smoking pattern. Subjects are composed of each of 10 smokers(5 males and 5 females) and 10 non-smokers(5 males and 5 females). They stayed for three hours in the PC game room without smoking. Concentrations of nicotine in smokers and non-smokers were 129.72 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ and 99.99 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥, respectively. Urinary cotinine concentrations were increased as time goes on after exposure to nicotine and showed maximum value at 9.45 hours after nicotine exposure and were 32.21 and 110.66 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L for non-smoker and smokers. Urinary cotinine has a tendency to be increased by passive smoking. Therefore, it is recommended that the effective control for indoor air quality and extensive research be needed to reduce nicotine concentration by passive smoking in the PC game room.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.5 no.3_4
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• pp.47-56
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• 1990

Smoking damages nonsmoker's health who have been exposed to passive smoking as well as smoker's own health. Passive smoking can cause serious health damage to particular groups, such as the old aged, children and pregnant women. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between nicotine concentrations in environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and urinary cotinine concentrations of nonsmokers exposed to ETS, and to provide basic information related to health risk assessment. The results of this study were summarized as follows: 1. When 180 cigarrette were smoked during S hours (high concentrations exposure) in 132 m$^3$chamber, mean concentrations of nicotine in ETS showed 263.52 $\mu\textrm{g}$/m$^3$${\pm}$51.93. When 45 cigarretts were smoked (low concentrations exposure), it was 69.43${\pm}$8.96 $\mu\textrm{g}$/m$^3$. 2. The urinary cotinine concentrations of each times (0, 2.5, 5, 17 and 24 hours) in nonsmokers ranged from 0.27∼12.52 ng/ml in high concentrations exposure and 0.22∼2.28 ng/ml in low concentrations exposure. Mean while the total urinary cotinine concentrations during 24 hours ranged from 11.62∼31.65 ng/ml in high concentrations exposure and 3.45∼5.64 ng/ml in low concentrations exposure. 3. The correlation equation and coefficient between cotinine concentrations in nonsmokers' urine (y) and nicotine concentrations in ETS (x) was y=0.421+0.0171x and 0:875 (p<0.01) respectively, 4. The quantity of nonsmokers' smoking exposure by passive smoking can be assumed as based on the estimation of nicotine concentrations in ETS by measuring cotinine concentrations of nonsmokers' urine.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.181-188
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• 2001

A gas chromatographic method was established for the simultaneous determination of urinary nicotine and cotinine. The analytes in basified urine containing a sufficient amount of Na$_2$S0$_4$were extracted into dichloromethane by vigorous shaking. Into the transferred organic phase was added a small amount of acidified methanol (0.5 N HCI in methanol), followed by concentrating the mixture to dryness using a mild stream of nitrogen gas. The concentrate was reconstituted with methanol and the final solution analyzed using the gas chromatograph equipped with the nitrogen-phosphorus detector. The reproducibility tests showed coefficients of variation less than 11％ for both compounds. The percent recovery for both analytes ranged from 88 to 103％. The estimated method detection limits for nicotine and cotinine were 0.60 and 5.1 ng/mL, respectively. Extraction efficiencies for both nicotine and cotinine apparently declined without the addition of Na$_2$S0$_4$into the urine. Moreover, the absence of methanolic HCI in the extract resulted in almost complete evaporation of nicotine and partial loss of cotinine during the concentration process, indicating that the formation of nicotine-HCI and cotinine-HCI species is prerequisite to the suppression of the loss of both compounds.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.31-34
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• 2021

The pharmacokinetic properties of transdermal nicotine patches (TNPs) are different from those of other routes of nicotine administration; further, acute nicotine poisoning by TNPs may present with different clinical features. In the present report, we describe the case of a 23-year-old woman who was admitted to emergency department (ED) at Jeju National University Hospital with loss of consciousness. Five hours before the ED visit, she used multiple TNPs to attempt suicide. Initially, nausea and vomiting occurred, and the symptoms worsened over time. We immediately removed the TNPs, and the application sites were gently washed with sterile water. The patient's level of consciousness gradually improved, and she fully recovered an altered mental status 5 hours later. Her initial urinary cotinine level was 324 ng/mL. Physicians should be aware that acute nicotine poisoning by TNPs can cause various toxic symptoms.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 1997

This study was conducted to evaluate the personal effects of tobacco smoke and environmental tobacco smoke(ETS) by measuring the concentration of nicotine and cotinine in the urine. While 129 urine samples were being collected, Personal characteristics such as sex, age, number of years since a Person has been a smoker, average consumption number of cigarettes per day, and number of smoker in family were also surveyed. Collected urine samples were used for analysis of nicotine and cotinine by GC/NPD after Passing the extrelut column. In the urine of the smoker, the average contents of nicotine and cotinine were 5.38$\mu\textrm{g}$/ml and 3.14 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml, respectively. The average contents of nicotine and cotinine were 0.18$\mu\textrm{g}$/ml and 0.07$\mu\textrm{g}$/ml in the urine of male non-smoker, respectively. The contents of nicotine and cotinine in the non-smoker's urine were dependent on sex and age. On the other hand, the contents of nicotine and cotinine in smoker's urine were dependent on average consumption amount of cigarettes per day. Also, there was a direct relation between nicotine levels in the smoker's urine and the average consumption number of cigarettes Per day of smoker. The Possible sources of nicotine and cotinine in the non-smoker's urine seemed to be caused by food, beverage and En, Our results indicate that the number of smoker in family had no effect on increasing nicotine and cotinine contents in the urine of non-smoker.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.15-22
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• 2002

The purpose of the study was to assess relationship between smoking-related questionnaire and urinary cotinine. Seventy-five students of each one class of the first and second grade in one vocational school were administered the smoking-related items of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey October 2000, after which urine samples were collected. Urinary cotinine was detected by qualitative AccuSign Nicotine immunoassay. Positivity of urinary cotinine was detected in 29 of 75 students (38.7%). Kappa coefficients between self-reported smoking behaviors and positivity of urinary cotinine were all statistically significant, showing 0.41, 0.50, 0.28, 0.71 in lifetime smokers, regular smokers, current smokers, and current frequent smokers, respectively. These results showed that self-reported questionnaire may be useful in smoking-related survey and qualitative urinary cotinine may be used as validation of self-reported questionnaire.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 2007

Purpose: A diverse range of measurement methods to evaluate the effect of smoking is more powerful than using a single measure. The objectives of this study were to examine the relationships among smoking pack year, self-reported smoking dependence, and urinary cotinine levels, and to investigate the psychological variables in working men. Method: In this cross-sectional study, we surveyed men working in an electronic company who participated in a smoking cessation program. Among 57 men who completed questionnaires, 25 participate in a test for cotinine levels. Results: Smoking pack year was significantly and positively correlated with the FTND-K (Korean version of Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence) sum scores (r=0.631, p=0.000) and with the levels of urine cotinine (r=0.463, p=0.023). The relationship between FTND-K sum scores and urinary cotinine levels was also significantly positive (r=0.639, p=0.001). Those with higher social support, especially family support, tended to perceive a higher self-efficacy to smoking cessation. Conclusion: These findings suggest that self-reported smoking pack year and nicotine dependence in working men may be a valid way to evaluate the effect of smoking. A supportive family may influence smoking cessation in working men as it increases self-efficacy to avoid smoking.