Urinary cotinine fluoroimmunoassay for smoking status screening adapted to an automated analyser

A polarization fluoroimmunoassay for cotinine, a major metabolite of nicotine, has been adapted for fully automated screening of urine samples on the Abbott TDx analyser. The method has sensitivity and specificity suitable for the discrimination of active smokers from non-smokers (including passive smokers) by application of a cut-off at 0.5 mg l-1 of total urinary cotinine. Most active smokers' urine gave results over 1 mg l-1, whereas apparent levels in non-smokers were 0.08 mg l-1 or lower. A result for one sample can be obtained in about 5 min and a throughput of 80 samples h-1 can be maintained for large-scale screening applications.