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Published on: February 12, 2015
Salivary cotinine concentrations in daily smokers in Barcelona, Spain: a cross-sectional study
Marcela Fu1, Esteve Fernandez, Jose M Martínez-Sánchez
1Tobacco Control & Research Unit, Institut Català d'Oncologia (ICO-IDIBELL), Av. Gran Via de L'Hospitalet 199-203, 08907 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), Spain. mfu@iconcologia.net
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.
