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. 2009 Sep 3:9:320.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-9-320.

Salivary cotinine concentrations in daily smokers in Barcelona, Spain: a cross-sectional study

Marcela Fu  1 , Esteve Fernandez, Jose M Martínez-Sánchez, José A Pascual, Anna Schiaffino, Antoni Agudo, Carles Ariza, Josep M Borràs, Jonathan M Samet; DCOT Study investigators
Collaborators, Affiliations

Salivary cotinine concentrations in daily smokers in Barcelona, Spain: a cross-sectional study

Marcela Fu et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Characterizing and comparing the determinant of cotinine concentrations in different populations should facilitate a better understanding of smoking patterns and addiction. This study describes and characterizes determinants of salivary cotinine concentration in a sample of Spanish adult daily smoker men and women.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out between March 2004 and December 2005 in a representative sample of 1245 people from the general population of Barcelona, Spain. A standard questionnaire was used to gather information on active tobacco smoking and passive exposure, and a saliva specimen was obtained to determine salivary cotinine concentration. Two hundred and eleven adult smokers (>16 years old) with complete data were included in the analysis. Determinants of cotinine concentrations were assessed using linear regression models.

Results: Salivary cotinine concentration was associated with the reported number of cigarettes smoked in the previous 24 hours (R2 = 0.339; p < 0.05). The inclusion of a quadratic component for number of cigarettes smoked in the regression analyses resulted in an improvement of the fit (R2 = 0.386; p < 0.05). Cotinine concentration differed significantly by sex, with men having higher levels.

Conclusion: This study shows that salivary cotinine concentration is significantly associated with the number of cigarettes smoked and sex, but not with other smoking-related variables.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The distribution of salivary cotinine concentration in relation to the number of cigarettes smoked during the 24 hours prior to saliva collection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The regression lines from linear and quadratic models for men and women.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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