title: ITC "spit and butts" pilot study: the feasibility of collecting saliva and cigarette butt samples from smokers to evaluate policy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Large-scale epidemiological surveys have frequently relied upon clinic-based sample collection to incorporate biological data, which can be costly and result in nonrepresentative data. Collecting samples in a nonclinical setting (i.e., through postal mail or at the subject's home) offers an alternative option that is minimally invasive and can be incorporated into large population-based studies.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  (a) To assess the feasibility of collecting biological data from a cohort of smokers in the International Tobacco Control (ITC) study, through the mail and in the home; (b) to examine whether participants are representative of the population under consideration; and (c) to evaluate how the added burden of providing biomarker samples might impact subsequent participation in a follow-up survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were asked to provide a saliva sample and five cigarette butts from cigarettes smoked on a single day, using standardized procedures. Sample collection kits were mailed to a random sample of 400 daily cigarette smokers who were involved in the 2006 annual ITC Four Country (United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Australia) telephone survey and agreed to participate in sample collection. A random sample of 179 daily smokers who participated in a face-to-face ITC survey in Mexico and Uruguay and agreed to participate in sample collection were also asked to provide samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Samples were collected from 96% of invited participants in the face-to-face surveys and 52% of participants in the telephone survey. The added burden of the sample collection did not reduce survey retention rates. Participants who initially agreed to participate in the sample collection were more likely to participate in the subsequent survey than participants who were not asked or declined to participate (odds ratio [OR] = 1.28; 95% CI = 1.01-1.62, p = .021). Further, those who provided samples were also more likely to participate in the subsequent survey than those who did not (OR = 2.78; 95% CI = 1.71-4.52, p < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Collecting saliva and cigarette butt samples from a group of smokers is feasible, yields a representative sample, and the added participant burden does not reduce subsequent survey response rates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Behavior, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Elm and Carlton Streets, Buffalo, NY 14263, USA. brian.fix@roswellpark.org
authors.forename: Brian V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Fix
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hammond
authors.forename: Bill
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McNeill
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thrasher
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boado
authors.forename: K Michael
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Cummings
authors.forename: Hua-Hie
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Yong
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hyland
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D015415:Biomarkers; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D062789:Tobacco Products; D006291:Health Policy
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers