title: Estimating nicotine consumption in eight cities using sewage epidemiology based on ammonia nitrogen equivalent population.
abstract: Sewage epidemiology is a real-time tool used to monitor tobacco consumption. In this study, we investigated the tobacco consumption in eight cities in Jilin province using sewage epidemiology. We collected influent wastewater samples from ten wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) that serve nearly four million people. Mean nicotine (NIC) loads ranged from 1.42 to 14.2mg/d/capita, whereas mean cotinine (COT) loads showed lower levels with 0.33 to 2.15mg/d/capita. Population size was estimated to provide an accurate and real-time population based on ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) concentration in influent. To verify the NH4-N equivalent population, we compared these results with the corresponding population estimated based on the expert knowledge of the local WWTPs operators. Daily consumption of NIC was estimated to be approximately 2.39±1.47mg/d/capita. Monte Carlo simulation was used to analyze uncertainty and variability in the number of cigarettes consumed by smokers in the range of 9.8 to 31.4 per day with a median of 16.9. The data of tobacco consumption in this study coordinated strongly with a traditional survey on the consumption of tobacco in China, indicating sewage epidemiology with NH4-N equivalent population estimation may provide a suitable and useful tool for tobacco use monitoring.
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, 1 Linghai Road, Dalian, Liaoning 116023, China.
authors.forename: Qiu-Da
authors.initials: QD
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, 1 Linghai Road, Dalian, Liaoning 116023, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Guo
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, 1 Linghai Road, Dalian, Liaoning 116023, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, 1 Linghai Road, Dalian, Liaoning 116023, China.
authors.forename: Ming-Xing
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology (AEET), School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Zhuang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, 1 Linghai Road, Dalian, Liaoning 116023, China. Electronic address: degaowang@dlmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: De-Gao
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000032:analysis*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D002947:Cities; D006801:Humans; D009538:Nicotine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D012722:Sewage / Q000032:analysis*; D064424:Tobacco Use / Q000453:epidemiology*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000641:Ammonia; D009538:Nicotine; D009584:Nitrogen; D012722:Sewage; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Ammonia nitrogen; Cotinine; Nicotine; Sewage epidemiology; Tobacco consumption