Study on the Daily Ad Libitum Smoking Habits of Active Korean Smokers and Their Effect on Urinary Smoking Exposure and Impact Biomarkers

Introduction Understanding interactions of smoking topography with biomarkers of exposure to tobacco is essential for accurate smoking risk assessments. Methods In this study, the smoking topography and the levels of tobacco smoke exposure urinary biomarkers of a sample of active Korean smokers were quantified and measured. The results were used to investigate the effect of daily activities and smoking time on the smoking topography. Moreover, correlations between the smoking topography parameters and biomarkers were assessed. Results No significant effect of either the daily activities or time on the smoking topography of the subjects were observed. Synchronic correlations of the cigarette consumption per day (CPD) and the average flow per puff with both urinary cotinine and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine were significant. For the urinary nicotine metabolites, the peak levels appeared when the CPD was over 19 cigarettes per day and the average puff velocity was between 35 and 45 ml/s. Nevertheless, when the average flow was over 60 ml/s, the levels of cotinine and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine significantly dropped. Conclusions The findings of this study may be beneficial for further smoking risk assessments with contributions of both the smoking topography and biomarkers to provide current smokers with applicable cession programs.Clinical significance Smoking habits and levels of urinary biomarkers of Korean smokers are investigated. People with a higher dependency on nicotine smoke cigarettes with slower puffs. Effects of daily activities or time on smoking topography were not significant. Correlations between smoking topography and urinary biomarkers were significant. Peak biomarker levels were observed under certain smoking topography conditions.