Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences
 

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QUANTITATIVE RELATIONSHIPS OF URINARY COTININE LEVELS IN SMOKING DIABETIC PATIENTS

ANA MARIA VLĂSCEANU1, CONSTANTIN PETRARU1, DANIELA BACONI1*, MIHAELA GHICA2, ANDREEA ARSENE3, LĂCRĂMIOARA POPA2, ALINA NICOLAE3, CRISTINA DRĂGOI3, GEORGETA PAVALACHE4

1.University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology, Traian Vuia 6, Bucharest, Romania
2 .University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Physical and Colloidal Chemistry, Traian Vuia 6, Bucharest, Romania
3 .University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Biochemistry, Traian Vuia 6, Bucharest, Romania
4 .”Ovidius” University Constanta, Faculty of Pharmacy, Constanţa, Romania

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Nowadays, it is recognized the fact that cotinine can serve as a quantification marker of nicotine addiction, as well as for passive smoking. Several studies reported in the recent literature have emphasized that, in patients with different pathologies, objective assessment of tobacco use is required, based on biomarkers (e.g. determining cotinine levels in blood or urine) and not on self-reporting of estimated consumption. To highlight the possible correlations between the concentration of cotinine and various parameters, such as socio-demographic or smoking related diseases, we have evaluated the urinary cotinine levels in smoking diabetic patients. The study group consisted of twenty two smoking diabetic patients, evaluated comparatively with a group of healthy active smokers in terms of age, gender, education level, marital status, occupation, comorbidities, glycated haemoglobin values, urinary cotinine concentration, nicotine dependence score, duration of tobacco use, number and characteristics of the smoked cigarettes. Urinary cotinine concentration was determined by an ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) method using a commercial kit. Quantitative relationships such as concentration of cotinine in urine vs. dependence score and duration of tobacco use; vs. dependence score and comorbidities or vs. dependence score, glycated haemoglobin, and comorbidities were obtained. The predictive power of the proposed mathematical models is high as the correlation coefficients obtained have values close to unity (R > 0.90). The quantitative relationships between urinary cotinine concentrations and different parameters evaluated in the study, established using various combinations of these parameters can predict the cotinine levels in urine, reflecting the biotransformation and urinary excretion of nicotine as this metabolite.