1. First nation-wide estimation of tobacco consumption in Spain using wastewater-based epidemiology
- Author
-
Miren López de Alda, José Benito Quintana, Yolanda Valcárcel, Ester López-García, Alberto Celma, María Rosende, Rafael Cela, Félix Hernández, Rosa Maria Marcé, Lubertus Bijlsma, Maitane Olivares, Cristina Postigo, Rosa Montes, Andreu Rico, Vicente Andreu, Eva Pocurull, Rosario Rodil, Iria González-Mariño, Yolanda Picó, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Química Analítica, Nutrición e Bromatoloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Instituto de Investigación e Análises Alimentarias, López De Alda, Miren, Postigo, Cristina, López De Alda, Miren [0000-0002-9347-2765], and Postigo, Cristina [0000-0002-7344-7044]
- Subjects
Wastewater-Based Epidemiological Monitoring ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Nicotine ,Environmental Engineering ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Population ,Addiction ,Wastewater ,010501 environmental sciences ,01 natural sciences ,Tobacco Use ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Environmental health ,Epidemiology ,medicine ,Humans ,Environmental Chemistry ,education ,Waste Management and Disposal ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Estimation ,Consumption (economics) ,education.field_of_study ,Nationwide monitoring ,nationwide monitoring ,Sewage surveillance ,Q Science (General) ,Addictions ,Pollution ,Geography ,chemistry ,Spain ,Nation wide monitoring ,Cotinine ,medicine.drug ,Food contaminant - Abstract
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has become a very useful tool to monitor a population's drug consumption or exposure to environmental and food contaminants. In this work, WBE has been applied to estimate tobacco consumption in seven Spanish regions. To this end, 24 h composite wastewater samples were taken daily for one week in 17 wastewater treatment plants, covering altogether a population of ca. 6 million inhabitants. The samples were treated by enzymatic deconjugation and the wastewater content of two human-specific nicotine metabolites (namely, cotinine and trans-3′-hydroxycotinine) was measured to estimate the daily consumption of nicotine. The population-weighted average nicotine consumption in the seven analyzed regions was 2.2 g/(day∙1000 inh.), without any daily pattern. This average estimated nicotine consumption value agreed with the value derived from official tobacco sales data. Differences in consumption among the seven studied regions were found, being Galicia, the region with the lowest rate, and the Basque Country and Catalonia those with the highest rates. However, no conclusive correlation was found between those values and the prevalence data taken from two different national surveys, nor sociodemographic and health data. This study demonstrates that this tool can complement other indicators in order to accurately assess tobacco consumption rates at regional and national levels and provides the most extensive application of the approach in the Spanish territory., Financial support This study was supported by MINECO/AEI projects (CTM2016-81935-REDT, CTM2017-84763-C3-2-R, CTM2017-84763-C3-1-R, CTM2017-84763-C3-3-R), MICINN project (CEX2018-000794-S), Galician Council of Culture, Education and Universities (ED481D 2017/003 and ED431C2017/36), cofunded by FEDER/ERDF.
- Published
- 2020