Relationship between environmental tobacco smoke exposure and carcinogen-hemoglobin adduct levels in nonsmokers.
BACKGROUND
A potent bladder carcinogen for workers in the dye industry, 4-aminobiphenyl (4-ABP), is present in environmental tobacco smoke and has been shown to bond covalently with hemoglobin.


OBJECTIVE
The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and levels of 4-ABP-hemoglobin adducts in nonsmoking pregnant women and to compare adduct levels in those women with levels in smoking pregnant women.


METHODS
A questionnaire on smoking and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke was administered to 15 pregnant women who smoked cigarettes and 40 who did not smoke. Exposure was quantified for 1 week with a personal diary and by air sampling with a monitor worn by each woman. The monitor collected nicotine by passive diffusion to a filter treated with sodium bisulfate, and the deposit on the filter was analyzed by gas chromatography. Aliquots of maternal blood and cord blood collected during delivery were analyzed for 4-ABP-hemoglobin adducts by gas chromatography with negative ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry.


RESULTS
The mean adduct level in smokers (184 pg of 4-ABP per gram of hemoglobin) was substantially higher than that in nonsmokers (22 pg/g). This difference was statistically significant. Among nonsmokers, the levels of 4-ABP adducts increased significantly with increasing environmental tobacco smoke level (P = .009). Those in the lowest exposure category (< 0.5 micrograms/m3 weekly average nicotine) had median 4-ABP-hemoglobin adduct levels of 15 pg of 4-ABP per gram of hemoglobin, while those in the highest exposure category (> or = 2.0 micrograms/m3) had median levels of 26 pg/g. Nonsmokers in this study had a median adduct level of 20 pg/g, and smokers had a median level of 143 pg/g.


CONCLUSIONS
4-ABP-hemoglobin adduct levels in nonsmokers were 14% of the levels in smokers, which is consistent with findings of 20% in two other studies. Nonsmokers may receive a nontrivial dose of carcinogens from environmental tobacco smoke proportional to their exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.


CONCLUSIONS
The relationship between environmental tobacco smoke exposure and 4-ABP-hemoglobin adduct levels supports epidemiologic evidence that environmental tobacco smoke is carcinogenic to passive smokers.
Hammond
S K
SK
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester 01655.
Coghlin
J
J
Gann
P H
PH
Paul
M
M
Taghizadeh
K
K
Skipper
P L
PL
Tannenbaum
S R
SR
D000611:Aminobiphenyl Compounds / Q000378:metabolism*; D002273:Carcinogens / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*
D000611:Aminobiphenyl Compounds; D002273:Carcinogens; D006454:Hemoglobins; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution; C006757:4-biphenylamine