TY - JOUR
T1 - Urinary cotinine levels and environmental tobacco smoke in mothers and children of Romania, Portugal and Poland within the European human biomonitoring pilot study
AU - Lupsa, Ioana-Rodica
AU - Nunes, Baltazar
AU - Ligocka, Danuta
AU - Elena Gurzau, Anca
AU - Jakubowski, Marek
AU - Casteleyn, Ludwine
AU - Aerts, Dominique
AU - Biot, Pierre
AU - Den Hond, Elly
AU - Castaño, Argelia
AU - Esteban, Marta
AU - Kolossa-Gehring, Marike
AU - Fiddicke, Ulrike
AU - Knudsen, Lisbeth E.
AU - Schoeters, Greet
AU - Fátima Reis, M
N1 - Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/8/1
Y1 - 2015/8/1
N2 - The aim of this study was to explore data from the DEMOCOPHES study population for Romania, Portugal and Poland, in order to assess smoking patterns and the extent of ETS exposure and compare the national study samples with reference to the respective anti-smoking laws. The subset of the DEMOCOPHES study sample consisted of 360 children and their mothers (120 in each of the three countries - Romania (RO), Portugal (PT) and Poland (PL). Smoking was assessed using a detailed questionnaire for the participants, which addresses both active and passive smoking. This assessment uses exposure-relevant questionnaire data, in particular on the home environment and residence, socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle such as nutrition, smoking behavior, other exposure-relevant behavior and occupational history, as well as urinary cotinine and creatinine measurements. We performed general statistical analysis and innovative receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. Smoking prevalence as evaluated by the questionnaire was generally high, and higher than official statistics, which suggests some under-reporting in the countries, particularly in Romania. Urinary cotinine levels provided biochemical confirmation of the high and similar smoking prevalence for the three countries. Concerning ETS exposure, Romania presented significantly higher levels, for children as well as for non-smoking mothers, with Portugal showing significantly lower levels. Compared to non-smoking mothers, the children showed relatively higher ETS exposure levels in all three countries. The established country-specific optimal cut-off values in urinary cotinine to distinguish smokers from non-smokers vary more than those to discriminate ETS exposure extent in non-smoking mothers and children. Although different between countries, these values are a valuable output to monitor effectiveness of both national antismoking laws and educational programs in the three countries. The findings of this study point to the urgent need for stronger, more effective and well enforced smoke-free legislation in the three countries.
AB - The aim of this study was to explore data from the DEMOCOPHES study population for Romania, Portugal and Poland, in order to assess smoking patterns and the extent of ETS exposure and compare the national study samples with reference to the respective anti-smoking laws. The subset of the DEMOCOPHES study sample consisted of 360 children and their mothers (120 in each of the three countries - Romania (RO), Portugal (PT) and Poland (PL). Smoking was assessed using a detailed questionnaire for the participants, which addresses both active and passive smoking. This assessment uses exposure-relevant questionnaire data, in particular on the home environment and residence, socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle such as nutrition, smoking behavior, other exposure-relevant behavior and occupational history, as well as urinary cotinine and creatinine measurements. We performed general statistical analysis and innovative receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. Smoking prevalence as evaluated by the questionnaire was generally high, and higher than official statistics, which suggests some under-reporting in the countries, particularly in Romania. Urinary cotinine levels provided biochemical confirmation of the high and similar smoking prevalence for the three countries. Concerning ETS exposure, Romania presented significantly higher levels, for children as well as for non-smoking mothers, with Portugal showing significantly lower levels. Compared to non-smoking mothers, the children showed relatively higher ETS exposure levels in all three countries. The established country-specific optimal cut-off values in urinary cotinine to distinguish smokers from non-smokers vary more than those to discriminate ETS exposure extent in non-smoking mothers and children. Although different between countries, these values are a valuable output to monitor effectiveness of both national antismoking laws and educational programs in the three countries. The findings of this study point to the urgent need for stronger, more effective and well enforced smoke-free legislation in the three countries.
U2 - 10.1016/j.envres.2015.03.018
DO - 10.1016/j.envres.2015.03.018
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 25841796
SN - 0013-9351
VL - 141
SP - 106
EP - 117
JO - Environmental Research
JF - Environmental Research
ER -