Title: 216 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN URINARY COTININE, PASSIVE SMOKE EXPOSURE AND RESPIRATORY HEALTH IN CHILDREN
Abstract: As part of a longitudinal study, two urine samples (1991 and 1992) from 602 elementary-school children were collected to investigate the relationship between urinary cotinine excretion (UCE) and tobacco smoke exposure at home. As potential confounders the smoking person, the child's gender, diagnoses of asthma and asthmalike symptoms and the socioeconomic status were considered. Besides standardized questionnaires for ascertainment of data, gaschromatography-selected-ion-monitoring was employed for measurement of UCE (ng cotinine/mg creatinine). The individual mean UCE levels in both surveys ranged between 1.2 and 25.2 ng/mg creatinine and were closely associated with the number of cigarettes consumed at home (p=0.0001). In about 40 % of the samples an UCE was detected. Maternal smoking was associated with a detectable UCE at a higher extent than paternal smoking. Of the confounding variables, low socioeconomic status (p = 0.0009) and the size of the dwelling (p=0.033) turned out to be significantly associated with UCE. No association was found between UCE and asthma, asthmalike symptoms, gender and nationality. UCE was found in asthmatics (1991: 39.7 %, 1992: 40.3 %) with frequency similar to non-asthmatics (1991: 34.2 %, 1992: 45 %). The data suggests that the current measures for protection of children against passive smoking are not sufficient, particularly not in children with a history of asthma.