1. Validation of Self-reported Smoking with Urinary Cotinine Levels and Influence of Second-hand Smoke among Conscripts
- Author
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Ya-Mei Tzeng, Chung-Chi Huang, Shan-Ru Li, Shu-Jia Huang, Senyeong Kao, Shu-Ling Hwang, Fu-Gong Lin, Shiang-Huei Jiang, Ching-Huang Lai, and Yu-Lung Chiu
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Cross-sectional study ,Military service ,Urinary system ,Taiwan ,lcsh:Medicine ,Sensitivity and Specificity ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Young Adult ,0302 clinical medicine ,Environmental health ,Prevalence ,Tobacco Smoking ,Medicine ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Cotinine ,lcsh:Science ,Second hand smoke ,Smoke ,Multidisciplinary ,business.industry ,lcsh:R ,Questionnaire ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,Military Personnel ,chemistry ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Tobacco Smoke Pollution ,lcsh:Q ,Self Report ,business ,Biomarkers - Abstract
Accurate identification of smoking behaviour is crucial to monitor the smoking rate. This study used urinary cotinine (UC) as a biomarker to verify the effectiveness of self-reported smoking behaviour among conscripts during recruit training. The influence of second-hand smoke (SHS) on the UC concentration was also analysed. A cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2014 to December 2014. The participants comprised a total of 621 military service and basic military training conscripts. A self-administered questionnaire survey and a urine test were performed to verify the participants’ smoking behaviour. The UC concentration of 100 ng/mL was adopted as the baseline to identify smokers. A high level of consistency was observed between the conscripts’ self-reported results and the results validated by the UC concentrations (the overall kappa coefficient was 0.918). Moreover, the overall sensitivity and specificity were 92.9% and 98.1%, respectively. The sensitivity for the military service conscripts was significantly lower than that for the basic military training conscripts (86.1% vs. 97.5%, P-value = 0.002). For the self-reported nonsmokers among the military service conscripts, SHS exposure was related to their UC concentrations. The method of self-reporting through a questionnaire survey can serve as a tool to assess conscripts’ smoking behaviour.
- Published
- 2017