![Sample our Bioscience journals, sign in here to start your access, Latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5925/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Bioscience.jpg"})
Abstract
Purpose: To revise and extend the previously published serum cotinine cut offs to classify smokers and non-smokers for US adolescents and adults.
Materials and methods: Cross-sectional data (N = 10171) from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for 2011–2014 were used to compute serum cotinine cut-offs to classify smokers and non-smokers for US adults aged ≥20 years and 2007–2014 (N = 4583) data were used to compute serum cotinine cut-offs for US adolescents aged 12–19 years.
Results: Specificities and sensitivities for the cut-offs among adults were ≥95% and ≥75% among adolescents. For adults, serum cotinine cut-offs in ng/mL to classify smokers from non-smokers were 3.3 for the total population, 4.13 for males, 2.99 for females, 4.03 for non-Hispanic whites, 8.85 for non-Hispanic blacks, 0.377 for Mexican Americans, 1.72 for other Hispanics and 1.41 for non-Hispanic Asians. For adolescents, serum cotinine cut-offs in ng/mL to classify smokers from non-smokers were 0.765 for the total population, 1.1 for males, 0.408 for females, 1.2 for non-Hispanic whites, 1.98 for non-Hispanic blacks, 0.215 for Mexican Americans and 0.321 for other Hispanics.
Conclusions: Serum cotinine cut-offs to distinguish smokers from non-smokers for US adults and adolescents were developed.
Disclosure statement
Author declares that he received no funding from any private or public sources to conduct this research. All data used in this research are available free of charge from www.cdc.gov/nch/nhanes/index.htm. He also declares that he has no competing financial or other interests that could have affected the conclusions arrived at in this communication.