Secondhand Smoke Exposure in Homes Through Serum Samples From Children Younger Than 5 Years Old

Abstract

ISEE-845 Objective: To evaluate the secondhand smoke in homes through serum levels of cotinine and trans-3′-hydroxycotinine in children younger than 5 years of age, who were participants of the National Survey of Health 2000, Mexico. Materials and Methods: Serum samples from adult-child matched by homes who participated in the National Survey of Health 2000 were random selected. The study population was stratified according to adult smoking status (smokers vs. nonsmokers). Serum samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography—atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), modified for the simultaneous determination of cotinine and trans-3′-hydroxycotinine. The descriptive analysis and multiple regression linear models were carried out to evaluate the difference among the children of smoking homes versus nonsmokers, adjusted by anthropometric characteristic, demographic, health and serum levels of cotinine and trans-3′-hydroxycotinine in adults. Results: Population study was of 159 adult-child binomials; 76 were with adult nonsmokers, and 83 with smoking adults. The mean age of children was 39.32 months (EE = 1.6) in nonsmokers group and 40.11 months (EE = 1.28) in the smokers group. The mean serum levels of cotinine and trans-3′-hydroxycotinine in children nonsmokers group was 0.19 ng/dL (EE = 0.01) and 0.06 ng/dL (EE = 0.008), respectively; and in the smokers group was of 0.60 ng/dL (EE = 0.04) and 0.19 ng/dL (EE = 0.01) ng/dL, respectively, being statistically significant (P < 0.001). The linear regression models show, on average, that the cotinine concentrations among children of the group of smokers is 2.284 ng/dL higher than that among the group of nonsmokers (P < 0.05); for trans-3′-hydroxycotinine the difference is 3.08 ng/dL (P < 0.05); R2 adjusted was 47.7% for the cotinine model and 49.3% for trans-3′-hydroxycotinine model. Conclusions: The present work shows the feasibility to identify and to quantify the secondhand smoke exposure in home in children aged less than 5 years through serum samples obtained from national surveys.