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The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Building capacity for a tobacco-free world

July 12-15, 2006, Washington, DC, USA

Thursday, July 13, 2006 - 4:45 PM
62-6

Analysis of solanesol in cigarette butts to examine cigarette smoking patterns

Gregory M. Polzin, PhD1, Joan M. McCraw1, Xizheng Yan1, Gary A. Giovino, PhD2, K. Michael Cummings, PhD, MPH2, Ron Borland, PhD, MAPS3, Bill King3, Geoffrey T. Fong, PhD4, Lion Shahab, B.A., M.Sc.5, David Hammond, PhD4, Richard O'Connor, PhD2, Ann McNeill, PhD5, Dorothy Hatsukami, Ph.D.6, J. Thomas Bernert, PhD1, David L. Ashley, PhD1, and Clifford H. Watson, PhD1. (1) Division of Laboratory Sciences, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, Mailstop F47, Atlanta, GA 30341, (2) Department of Health Behavior, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Elm & Carlton Street, Buffalo, NY 14263, (3) VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control, The Cancer Council Victoria, 100 Drummond Street, Carlton, 3053, Victoria, Australia, (4) Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada, (5) Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, 2-16 Torrington Place, London, United Kingdom, (6) University of Minnesota, Dept of Psychiatry, Minneapolis, MN

Objective: It has been suggested that, across a typical day, individual people's smoking intensity varies significantly. This has been investigated primarily with questionnaires that have asked smokers to recall their smoking habits. Because of problems with recall and variation in how smokers assess their own smoking intensity, data using questionnaires to ask about smoking patterns is not reliable for comparison between smokers. In order to provide more reliable individual smoke intake data, we have investigated the daily smoke intake patterns from individual smokers by testing for levels of solanesol in cigarette butts after smoking.

Methods: Smokers of both full-flavor and light cigarette varieties were recruited to collect their cigarette butts over a 24-hour period. In addition to topography, biomarker and other measurements, we determined the levels of solanesol in these cigarette butts. Using machine-smoking to establish the relationship between solanesol levels in the cigarette butt and selected mainstream smoke constituents, we determined the amount of smoke intake for cigarettes consumed during this time.

Results: Analysis of solanesol in individual butts revealed several interesting trends in terms of usage patterns. Most smokers exhibited a fairly periodic smoking profile indicated by several increases and decreases of butt solanesol over the 24hr period. Other smokers showed a wide variation in amount of smoke intake from each individual cigarette. These findings may give us insight into how different smokers smoke, what factors alter the amount of smoke inhaled from each cigarette, and whether cessation programs can be developed around these smoking patterns


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