Racial and Ethnic Differences in Serum Cotinine Levels

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Serum Cotinine Levels of Cigarette Smokers, Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1991

     An article published in the July 8, 1998, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), "Racial and Ethnic Differences in Serum Cotinine Levels of Cigarette Smokers, Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1991," provides the first evidence from a national study that African American smokers have higher levels of serum cotinine (metabolized nicotine) than white and Mexican American smokers, even after researchers controlled for the number of cigarettes smoked each day and other factors.

Other findings of the study include

African American smokers were found to have serum cotinine levels 12% to 50% higher than white smokers and 32% to 56% higher than Mexican American smokers, even after researchers adjusted for the number of cigarettes smoked per day, age, sex, body weight, number of smokers in the home, and the number of hours exposed to secondhand smoke at work.

Among self-reported smokers, 95.5% of African American and 93.8% of white smokers had serum cotinine levels consistent with their reported smoking levels.

Whites and Mexican Americans had similar cotinine levels when they smoked up to 5 cigarettes per day; however, cotinine levels increased significantly more for whites than for Mexican Americans with each additional cigarette smoked.

To obtain a copy of the article, please contact OSH at (770) 488-5677 or visit the Journal of American Medical Association web site at http://www.ama-assn.org/jama.

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