Use of Urinary Thiocyanate as a Biomarker of Tobacco Smoke
Received Date: Jul 29, 2016 / Accepted Date: Sep 27, 2016 / Published Date: Oct 02, 2016
Abstract
Data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for the years 2005-2010 were used to develop cut off levels for urinary thiocyanate (USCN) to distinguish smokers from nonsmokers aged ≥ 20 years. A cut off of (i) 1840 ng/ml for USCN was able to distinguish smokers from nonsmokers with a sensitivity of 80.7% and a specificity of 80.8%, (ii) 2630 ng/ml for USCN was able to distinguish smokers from nonsmokers with exposure to SHS at home with a sensitivity of 82.0% and a specificity of 82.1%, and (iii) 1550 ng/ml for USCN was able to distinguish smokers from nonsmokers without exposure to SHS at home with a sensitivity of 75.7% and a specificity of 75.6%. Adequacy of these cut offs was evaluated by applying them to NHANES data for 2011-2012. Sensitivities and specificities for 2005-2010 and 2011-2012 data were comparable. USCN levels for smokers were 4.6 times of what they were for nonsmokers (4102.6 vs. 890.6 ng/ml, p<0.01). Those aged 20-64 years had higher levels of USCN than those aged 65+ years (1390.0 vs. 855.9 ng/ml). Males had higher levels of USCN than females (p<0.01). Non- Hispanic whites had statistically significantly higher levels of USCN than non-Hispanic blacks (p<0.01).
Keywords: Specificity; Sensitivity; Thiocyanate; Smoking
Citation: Jain RB (2016) Use of Urinary Thiocyanate as a Biomarker of Tobacco Smoke. Epidemiology (Sunnyvale) 6:268. Doi: 10.4172/2161-1165.1000268
Copyright: © 2016 Jain RB. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Share This Article
Recommended Journals
Open Access Journals
Article Tools
Article Usage
- Total views: 11340
- [From(publication date): 10-2016 - Dec 04, 2024]
- Breakdown by view type
- HTML page views: 10654
- PDF downloads: 686