ETS personal exposure levels of Japanese people measured by using a passive nicotine sampler

摘要

Background: ETS (environmental tobacco smoke) is one of the public concern. It is necessary to assess ETS personal exposure levels to evaluate the health effects and health risk of ETS. However, there have not been so many quantitative assessments about ETS exposure for epidemiologic study. In order to investigate the ETS exposure levels and the relationship between ETS exposure and factors including smoke perception, we conducted a nicotine exposure study. This study was conducted as a part of "comprehensive study on the social acceptance of ETS evaluated from the personal exposure and perception". In this paper, the distribution of ETS exposure levels was described. Methods: Twenty-four hour ETS exposure levels for adult and child volunteers were measured by using improved MoNIC (monitor of nicotine) passive sampler at six areas in Japan. They were also asked to record the number of active and passive smoking, time activity pattern, etc. by using a questionnaire. For children, guardians were requested to fill the questionnaire. Results: One-hundred sixty subjects (age 1 to 79) were included in this study. Median ETS exposure level for adults (>12 years old, passive smoker) was 1.1 ug/m3 (IQR (interquartile range): 0.2-4.6 ug/m3) and for children was 0.3 ug/m3 (Iqr: LOT-2.9 μg/m3). A clear relationship between measured exposure levels and the number of passive smoking (self-reported) was observed. ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curve analysis showed that adult non-smokers, passive smokers and active smokers could be well classified based on nicotine exposure. Median Ceq (Cigarette equivalent) exposure estimated based on nicotine was 14 cigarettes per year for adults. Personal cigarette acceptance was not related to ETS exposure.