Adolescent Self-Reported Smoking and Electronic Cigarette Use vs. Serum Cotinine Level, NHANES, 2015–16 and 2017–18

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to compare serum cotinine cutoffs for nicotine/tobacco exposure and self-reported tobacco use in adolescents. National Health and Nutrition Survey, 2015–18, cotinine levels and tobacco questions were analyzed for frequencies; bivariate and logistic regression analyses. With serum cotinine as the gold standard, self-report of current smoking detected 40.5% who had tobacco/nicotine exposure cotinine levels (sensitivity = 40.5%). Self-report of current smoking and/or e-cigarette use detected 60.0% who had tobacco/nicotine exposure cotinine levels (sensitivity = 60.0%). In this nationally representative study, caution should be considered in relying upon adolescent self-reported cigarette use, and self-reported cigarette and/or e-cigarette use.

Keywords:

• cigarette
• cotinine
• electronic cigarette
• e-cigarette
• NHANES

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Data availability statement

These data were derived from the following resources available in the public domain: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey available at NHANES Questionnaires, Datasets, and Related Documentation (cdc.gov).

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number 5U54GM104942-04. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.