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Learning Objectives: Describe the association betweeen secondhand smoke exposure and inflammatory markers in youth
Abstract:
Problem/Objective: Two recent reports have found an association between exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke and elevated inflammatory markers including C-reactive protein (CRP) in adults. Similar results among youth have not been reported.
Methods: Serum cotinine levels were used to estimate secondhand tobacco smoke exposure among participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (1988-1991) who were 4-17 years of age. Likely smokers with serum cotinine values >= 14 ng/dl, self-reported tobacco users or participants with missing serum cotinine were excluded from the analysis leaving 2665 youth participants. Inflammatory markers included in the analysis were serum CRP, white blood cell (WBC) count, and ferritin.
Results: The geometric mean serum cotinine level among participants was 0.30 (95% CI 0.29-0.32). The geometric mean serum CRP was 0.23 (95% CI 0.23-0.24), geometric mean WBC was 6.98 x 103 (95% CI 6.90-7.05) and geometric mean ferritin was 31.72 (95% CI 30.99-32.46). After adjusting for age, gender, and BMI percentile, log cotinine levels were significantly positively associated with log CRP (p=0.014) and log ferritin (p< 0.001) and significantly negatively associated with log WBC (p<0.001). The R2 for the above associations ranged between 0.011 and 0.034.
Conclusions: Secondhand tobacco smoke exposure as estimated by serum cotinine is associated with small, but detectable elevations of certain inflammatory markers (CRP and ferritin) in this youth population. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine if significant clinical conditions such as atherosclerosis are increased in the exposed population.
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See more of The 2005 National Conference on Tobacco or Health (May 4-6, 2005)