title: Carboxyhemoglobin, cotinine, and thiocyanate assay compared for distinguishing smokers from non-smokers.
abstract: We compared cotinine, carboxyhemoglobin, and thiocyanate concentrations in blood sampled from 187 cigarette smokers and 181 non-smokers. All three differed significantly between smokers and non-smokers. Cotinine performed best as a test for assessing smoking status, with a sensitivity of 98% as compared with 94% for carboxyhemoglobin and 80% for thiocyanate, all at a specificity of 95%. These differences were statistically significant. Results by none of these three methods correlated well with number of cigarettes smoked per day.
mesh_terms: D002263:Carboxyhemoglobin / Q000032:analysis*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D003367:Cotinine / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011760:Pyrrolidinones / Q000097:blood*; D012907:Smoking; D013053:Spectrophotometry; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013861:Thiocyanates / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins; D011760:Pyrrolidinones; D013861:Thiocyanates; D002263:Carboxyhemoglobin; D003367:Cotinine