Abstract
Children’s exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) is a severe public health problem. There is still a lack of evidence regarding panoramic changes in children’s urinary metabolites induced by their involuntary exposure to SHS, and few studies have considered individual differences. This study aims to clarify the SHS-induced changes in urinary metabolites in preschool children by using cross-sectional and longitudinal metabolomics analyses. Urinary metabolites were quantified by using untargeted ultra high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC(c)-MS/MS). Urine cotinine-measured SHS exposure was examined to determine the exposure level. A cross-sectional study including 17 children in a low-exposure group, 17 in a medium-exposure group, and 17 in a high-exposure group was first conducted. Then, a before–after study in the cohort of children was carried out before and two months after smoking-cessation intervention for family smokers. A total of 43 metabolites were discovered to be related to SHS exposure in children in the cross-sectional analysis (false discovery rate (FDR) corrected p < 0.05, variable importance in the projection (VIP) > 1.0). Only three metabolites were confirmed to be positively associated with children’s exposure to SHS (FDR corrected p < 0.05) in a follow-up longitudinal analysis, including kynurenine, tyrosyl-tryptophan, and 1-(3-pyridinyl)-1,4-butanediol, the latter of which belongs to carbonyl compounds, peptides, and pyridines. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis indicated that 1-(3-pyridinyl)-1,4-butanediol and kynurenine were significantly enriched in xenobiotic metabolism by cytochrome P450 (p = 0.040) and tryptophan metabolism (p = 0.030), respectively. These findings provide new insights into the pathophysiological mechanism of SHS and indicate the influence of individual differences in SHS-induced changes in urinary metabolites in children.
Highlights
Children’s exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) is a major public health problem, with a prevalence of 40% worldwide and 55.9% in Southeast Asia [1,2]
LOD, and 8 had cotinine concentrations the boundary valueataccording to the cutoff valueto the below the LOD, and 8 hadatcotinine concentrations the boundary value according of group stratification
The results from our study suggested a positive relation between kynurenine and tyrosyl-tryptophan and SHS exposure
Summary
Children’s exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) is a major public health problem, with a prevalence of 40% worldwide and 55.9% in Southeast Asia [1,2]. In China, 76.5% of respondents from 2124 families in six counties reported smoking in front of children [3]. Children are more likely to be affected by exposure to SHS at the same concentration since they inhale air at relatively higher ventilation rates [4]. SHS exposure results in serious health outcomes among children aged 4–11, including asthma, 4.0/).
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