Abstract
Expired air carbon monoxide (CO) and serum thiocyanate (SCN) were used to asses exposure to cigarettes in 139 middle-aged men. Subjects who reported smoking cigarettes generally had CO levels exceeding 8ppm and SCN levels exceeding 100umol/L; non-smokers had lower levels. For both tests the mean concentration among men smoking more than one pack daily was three times that of non-smokers. The is a high correlation between the two tests (r=.571 for smokers), an association that was largely independent of the smaller correlations between either test and reported smoking frequency (r=.476 for CO; r=.479 for SCN). The ability to distinguish between individuals who reported "typical" smoking habits and non-smokers was best when the CO and SCN analyses were used together to take advantage of their separate sources of variance; it was 99 per cent when the two tests were mutually concordant (91 per cent of cases). The CO and SCN measurements allowed 16 individuals who reported light smoking habits to be categorized into high and low presumptive tobacco exposure groups. The two tests are inexpensive and suitable for use in epidemiologic and health care delivery programs.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Astrup P., Kjeldsen K. Carbon monoxide, smoking, and atherosclerosis. Med Clin North Am. 1974 Mar;58(2):323–350. doi: 10.1016/s0025-7125(16)32161-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Butts W. C., Kueheman M., Widdowson G. M. Automated method for determining serum thiocyanate, to distinguish smokers from nonsmokers. Clin Chem. 1974 Oct;20(10):1344–1348. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cohen S. I., Perkins N. M., Ury H. K., Goldsmith J. R. Carbon monoxide uptake in cigarette smoking. Arch Environ Health. 1971 Jan;22(1):55–60. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1971.10665815. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Dastur D. K., Quadros E. V., Wadia N. H., Desai M. M., Bharucha E. P. Effect of vegetarianism and smoking on vitamin B12, thiocyanate, and folate levels in the blood of normal subjects. Br Med J. 1972 Jul 29;3(5821):260–263. doi: 10.1136/bmj.3.5821.260. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Densen P. M., Davidow B., Bass H. E., Jones E. W. A chemical test for smoking exposure. Arch Environ Health. 1967 Jun;14(6):865–874. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1967.10664853. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Foulds W. S., Bronte-Stewart J. M., Chisholm I. A. Serum thiocyanate concentrations in tobacco amblyopia. Nature. 1968 May 11;218(5141):586–586. doi: 10.1038/218586a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Goldsmith J. R., Aronow W. S. Carbon monoxide and coronary heart disease: A review. Environ Res. 1975 Oct;10(2):236–248. doi: 10.1016/0013-9351(75)90087-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- MALISZEWSKI T. F., BASS D. E. True and apparent thiocyanate in body fluids of smokers and nonsmokers. J Appl Physiol. 1955 Nov;8(3):289–291. doi: 10.1152/jappl.1955.8.3.289. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Pettigrew A. R., Fell G. S. Microdiffusion method for estimation of cyanide in whole blood and its application to the study of conversion of cyanide to thiocyanate. Clin Chem. 1973 May;19(5):466–471. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Pettigrew A. R., Fell G. S. Simplified colorimetric determination of thiocyanate in biological fluids, and its application to investigation of the toxic amblyopias. Clin Chem. 1972 Sep;18(9):996–1000. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- RINGOLD A., GOLDSMITH J. R., HELWIG H. L., FINN R., SCHUETTE F. Estimating recent carbon monoxide exposures. A rapid method. Arch Environ Health. 1962 Oct;5:308–318. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1962.10663288. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rea J. N., Tyrer P. J., Kasap H. S., Beresford S. A. Expired air carbon monoxide, smoking, and other variables. A community study. Br J Prev Soc Med. 1973 May;27(2):114–120. doi: 10.1136/jech.27.2.114. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]