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Preliminary evidence that high levels of nicotine on children's hands may contribute to overall tobacco smoke exposure.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Dust and surfaces are important sources of lead and pesticide exposure in young children. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate if third-hand smoke (THS) pollutants accumulate on the hands of children who live in environments where tobacco is used and if hand nicotine levels are associated with second-hand smoke (SHS), as measured by salivary cotinine. METHODS:Participants were parents and children (n=25; age mean (SD)=5.4 (5.3) years) presenting to the emergency department with a potentially SHS-related illness. A convenience sample of participants were recruited at baseline from an ongoing two-group, randomised controlled trial of a SHS reduction and tobacco cessation intervention. Parents were current smokers; thus, all children were at risk of SHS and THS exposure to varying extents. Primary outcome measures, which were assessed in child participants only, were hand nicotine and salivary cotinine. Parents reported sociodemographics and smoking patterns; children's medical records were abstracted for chief complaint, medical history and discharge diagnosis. RESULTS:All children had detectable hand nicotine (range=18.3-690.9?ng/wipe). All but one had detectable cotinine (range=1.2-28.8?ng/mL). Multiple linear regression results showed a significant positive association between hand nicotine and cotinine (p=0.009; semipartial r2=0.24), independent of child age. DISCUSSION:The higher-than-expected nicotine levels and significant association with cotinine indicate that THS may play a role in the overall exposure of young children to tobacco smoke toxicants and that hand wipes could be a useful marker of overall tobacco smoke pollution and a proxy for exposure. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02531594.

SUBMITTER: Mahabee-Gittens EM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5623162 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Preliminary evidence that high levels of nicotine on children's hands may contribute to overall tobacco smoke exposure.

Mahabee-Gittens E Melinda EM Merianos Ashley L AL Matt Georg E GE

Tobacco control 20170330 2

<h4>Background</h4>Dust and surfaces are important sources of lead and pesticide exposure in young children. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate if third-hand smoke (THS) pollutants accumulate on the hands of children who live in environments where tobacco is used and if hand nicotine levels are associated with second-hand smoke (SHS), as measured by salivary cotinine.<h4>Methods</h4>Participants were parents and children (n=25; age mean (SD)=5.4 (5.3) years) presenting to the eme ...[more]

PMID: 28360145

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Project description:BackgroundChildren's overall tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) consists of both inhalation of secondhand smoke (SHS) and ingestion, dermal uptake, and inhalation of thirdhand smoke (THS) residue from dust and surfaces in their environments.ObjectivesOur objective was to compare the different roles of urinary cotinine as a biomarker of recent overall TSE and hand nicotine as a marker of children's contact with nicotine pollution in their environments. We explored the differential associations of these markers with sociodemographics, parental smoking, child TSE, and clinical diagnoses.MethodsData were collected from 276 pediatric emergency department patients (Median age = 4.0 years) who lived with a cigarette smoker. Children's hand nicotine and urinary cotinine levels were determined using LC-MS/MS. Parents reported tobacco use and child TSE. Medical records were reviewed to assess discharge diagnoses.ResultsAll children had detectable hand nicotine (GeoM = 89.7ng/wipe; 95 % CI = [78.9; 102.0]) and detectable urinary cotinine (GeoM = 10.4 ng/ml; 95%CI = [8.5; 12.6]). Although hand nicotine and urinary cotinine were highly correlated (r = 0.62, p < 0.001), urinary cotinine geometric means differed between racial groups and were higher for children with lower family income (p < 0.05), unlike hand nicotine. Independent of urinary cotinine, age, race, and ethnicity, children with higher hand nicotine levels were at increased risk to have discharge diagnoses of viral/other infectious illness (aOR = 7.49; 95%CI = [2.06; 27.24], p = 0.002), pulmonary illness (aOR = 6.56; 95%CI = [1.76; 24.43], p = 0.005), and bacterial infection (aOR = 5.45; 95%CI = [1.50; 19.85], p = 0.03). In contrast, urinary cotinine levels showed no associations with diagnosis independent of child hand nicotine levels and demographics.DiscussionThe distinct associations of hand nicotine and urinary cotinine suggest the two markers reflect different exposure profiles that contribute differentially to pediatric illness. Because THS in a child's environment directly contributes to hand nicotine, additional studies of children of smokers and nonsmokers are warranted to determine the role of hand nicotine as a marker of THS exposure and its potential role in the development of tobacco-related pediatric illnesses.

Project description:BackgroundThirdhand smoke (THS) is the persistent residue resulting from secondhand smoke (SHS) that accumulates in dust, objects, and on surfaces in homes where tobacco has been used, and is reemitted into air. Very little is known about the extent to which THS contributes to children's overall tobacco smoke exposure (OTS) levels, defined as their combined THS and SHS exposure. Even less is known about the effect of OTS and THS on children's health. This project will examine how different home smoking behaviors contribute to THS and OTS and if levels of THS are associated with respiratory illnesses in nonsmoking children.MethodsThis project leverages the experimental design from an ongoing pediatric emergency department-based tobacco cessation trial of caregivers who smoke and their children (NIHR01HD083354). At baseline and follow-up, we will collect urine and handwipe samples from children and samples of dust and air from the homes of smokers who smoke indoors, have smoking bans or who have quit smoking. These samples will be analyzed to examine to what extent THS pollution at home contributes to OTS exposure over and above SHS and to what extent THS continues to persist and contribute to OTS in homes of smokers who have quit or have smoking bans. Targeted and nontargeted chemical analyses of home dust samples will explore which types of THS pollutants are present in homes. Electronic medical record review will examine if THS and OTS levels are associated with child respiratory illness. Additionally, a repository of child and environmental samples will be created.DiscussionThe results of this study will be crucial to help close gaps in our understanding of the types, quantity, and clinical effects of OTS, THS exposure, and THS pollutants in a unique sample of tobacco smoke-exposed ill children and their homes. The potential impact of these findings is substantial, as currently the level of risk in OTS attributable to THS is unknown. This research has the potential to change how we protect children from OTS, by recognizing that SHS and THS exposure needs to be addressed separately and jointly as sources of pollution and exposure.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02531594 . Date of registration: August 24, 2015.

Project description:IntroductionSimple silicone wristbands (WB) hold promise for exposure assessment in children. We previously reported strong correlations between nicotine in WB worn by children and urinary cotinine (UC). Here, we investigated differences in WB chemical concentrations among children exposed to secondhand smoke from conventional cigarettes (CC) or secondhand vapor from electronic cigarettes (EC), and children living with nonusers of either product (NS).MethodsChildren (n = 53) wore three WB and a passive nicotine air sampler for 7 days and one WB for 2 days, and gave a urine sample on day 7. Caregivers reported daily exposures during the 7-day period. We determined nicotine, cotinine, and tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) concentrations in WB, nicotine in air samplers, and UC through isotope-dilution liquid chromatography with triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry.ResultsNicotine and cotinine levels in WB in children differentiated between groups of children recruited into NS, EC exposed, and CC exposed groups in a similar manner to UC. WB levels were significantly higher in the CC group (WB nicotine median 233.8 ng/g silicone, UC median 3.6 ng/mL, n = 15) than the EC group (WB nicotine median: 28.9 ng/g, UC 0.5 ng/mL, n = 19), and both CC and EC group levels were higher than the NS group (WB nicotine median: 3.7 ng/g, UC 0.1 ng/mL, n = 19). TSNAs, including the known carcinogen NNK, were detected in 39% of WB.ConclusionsSilicone WB show promise for sensitive detection of exposure to tobacco-related contaminants from traditional and electronic cigarettes and have potential for tobacco control efforts.ImplicationsSilicone WB worn by children can absorb nicotine, cotinine, and tobacco-specific nitrosamines, and amounts of these compounds are closely related to the child's urinary cotinine. Levels of tobacco-specific compounds in the silicone WB can distinguish patterns of children's exposure to secondhand smoke and e-cigarette vapor. Silicone WB are simple to use and acceptable to children and, therefore, may be useful for tobacco control activities such as parental awareness and behavior change, and effects of smoke-free policy implementation.

Project description:Background: Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in children ranks one of the major public health problems in our time. Poor parental knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) on ETS often contribute to worse exposure of the kids. Thus, we aimed to document parental KAP regarding tobacco use, smoking cessation and children's ETS exposure, and to analyse how knowledge and attitude relate to practice. Methods: Self-administered KAP questionnaires were distributed to smoking parents recruited from the pediatric unit at the Prince of Wales Hospital, which provides pediatric service to a population of 1.2 million in Hong Kong. The 60-item questionnaire had a range of 0-38 for knowledge, 0-44 for attitude, and 0-40 for practice. Descriptive analyses were performed for KAP response, regression analyses were performed for the exploration of associations and identification of predictive indicators. Results: 145 smoking parents (mean age: 38.0 ± 6.7 yrs.; male: 85.5%) were included. Less than half (39.3%) of them reported a smoke-free policy at home. Among those parents who had private cars, less than half (45.2%) of them had smoke-free policy in their car that they never smoked in the car. Only 25.5% of the participants correctly answered ≥70% of the knowledge questions, and 11.8 % of the participants gave favorable responses to ≥70% of the attitude questions. The total knowledge and the total attitudes score were positively associated (r = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.35-0.79, p < 0.001), yet they were only modestly correlated with parental practice on children's ETS exposure. By multivariate regressions, potential predictive factors for more favorable parental KAP included higher household income, lower parental nicotine dependence level and breastfeeding practice. Conclusions: Parental KAP related to tobacco use and children's ETS exposure needs improvement to address the significant gap between recommended and actual practice. The weak association between knowledge and practice suggested that parental education alone is not adequate to combat ETS exposure in children.

Project description:BackgroundIt is estimated that around 40% of children worldwide are exposed to tobacco smoke, largely by their parents. Discrepancies between biochemical measures of exposure and parental report imply that parents may be under-reporting children's exposure. Previous research has shown that there may be a fundamental misunderstanding among smoking parents as to what exactly exposure is and in what circumstances it occurs.MethodsWe aimed to develop and validate a measure to assess parental perceptions of exposure (PPE) regarding child tobacco smoke exposure (TSE). A model was developed based on a qualitative study of smoking parents and a questionnaire constructed using pictures and vignettes to assess parental rating of children's exposure in hypothetical situations. The questionnaire was completed online by 220 Israeli parents recruited via social media. Exploratory factor analysis was performed, and reliability and internal consistency were assessed using test-retest reliability and Cronbach's alpha coefficient.ResultsFactor analysis produced 6 factors for PPE which explained a cumulative total variance of 76.3%. Factors were termed: 1) second-hand exposure; 2) third-hand exposure; 3) perceived knowledge/certainty; 4) sensory perceptions; 5) time perceptions; and 6) distance perceptions. All sub-scales showed good internal consistency and variance. Test-retest reliability was high (r = 0.856, p = .001). Total PPE score and subscales were highly correlated with risk perceptions r = 0.766. Smokers scored significantly lower on PPE than non-smokers, defining fewer situations as involving greater exposure (p < 0.001). Logistic regression showed PPE was able to discriminate smoking status.ConclusionsResults provide supporting evidence for the PPE as a reliable and valid construct, which can be feasibly measured. Smokers perceived exposure less frequently than non-smokers. This new measure can shed light on parental smoking behaviour and may help us to increase parental awareness of exposure in order to potentially reduce children's exposure to tobacco smoke.

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Preliminary evidence that high levels of nicotine on children's hands may contribute to overall tobacco smoke exposure.

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Preliminary evidence that high levels of nicotine on children's hands may contribute to overall tobacco smoke exposure.

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