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Comparative analysis of the concentrations of serum cotinine and hydroxycotinine for US children, adolescents, and adults: impact of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke at home and other indoor environments

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Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate how serum cotinine and hydroxycotinine concentrations compare and vary by age, gender, race/ethnicity, smoking, and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) at home and other indoor environments. Data from NHANES for 2013–2018 for US children aged 3–11 years (N = 3834), nonsmoker (N = 1963) and smoker (N = 247) adolescents aged 12–19 years, and nonsmoker (N = 10,334) and smoker (N = 3264) adults aged ≥ 20 years were analyzed by fitting regression models with log10 transformed values of serum cotinine and hydroxycotinine as dependent variables. Models stratified by age and smoking status were fitted. Those reporting using tobacco products during the last 5 days were classified as smokers. For cotinine, males had higher cotinine concentrations than females for children, adolescent smokers, and nonsmoker adults. Non-Hispanic Blacks were found to have lower concentrations of both cotinine and hydroxycotinine than non-Hispanic Whites for adult smokers (p < 0.01) only. The ratio of concentrations of those exposed to ETS at home to those not exposed to ETS at home for hydroxycotinine was 6.3 for nonsmoker adults and as low as 1.39 for adult smokers.

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Data availability

All data used for the analysis for this study are in public domain and available free of charge at www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.htm

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dacula, GA, USA

    Ram B. Jain

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  1. Ram B. Jain
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Contributions

The responsibility of executing every aspect of this study was borne by Ram B. Jain. This included conceptualizing and designing the study; generating study database; deciding the methods of statistical analysis; conducting the data analysis; generating, tabulating, and interpreting the study results; and ultimately, writing, reviewing, revising, and finalizing the study manuscript.

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Responsible Editor: Lotfi Aleya

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Jain, R.B. Comparative analysis of the concentrations of serum cotinine and hydroxycotinine for US children, adolescents, and adults: impact of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke at home and other indoor environments. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 17627–17635 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11838-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11838-1

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