Concentrations of Blood Vitamin A, C, E, Coenzyme Q10 and Urine Cotinine Related to Cigarette Smoking Exposure / 대한진단검사의학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: In smokers, smoking causes many disease entities including cancers, chronic pulmonary diseases and cardiovascular diseases. Passive smoking is also accepted as a carcinogen and its adverse health effects are emphasized. We measured blood vitamin A, C, E (alpha-, beta- and gamma-tocopherol), coenzyme Q10 and urine cotinine concentrations in nonsmokers and smokers. METHODS: Twenty-one healthy nonsmokers and 24 healthy smokers were included in this study. Smoking status was assessed with a self-reported questionnaire. Plasma was analyzed for coenzyme Q10 and serum for vitamin A, C, E using HPLC (Agilent Technologies Inc., USA) and random urine for cotinine using LC/tandem mass spectrometry (Applied Biosystems Inc., Canada). RESULTS: Smokers had significantly lower serum concentrations of vitamin C than nonsmokers (P=0.0005). No significant differences in concentrations of serum vitamin A, E, and plasma coenzyme Q10 were observed. Smokers had highly elevated urine cotinine levels (1,454+/-903 ng/mL). In 16 (76.2%) of 21 nonsmokers, urine cotinine was detected (3.25+/-4.08 ng/mL). The correlations between urine cotinine and blood antioxidants levels were not found. Neither, the correlation between smoking status and blood antioxidants & urine cotinine was found. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that smokers had significantly lower vitamin C levels among nonenzymatic antioxidants, namely, vitamin A, C, E and coenzyme Q10. High detection rate of urine cotinine in nonsmokers show the seriousness of passive smoking exposure, therefore more social efforts should be directed to reduce passive smoking exposure.