Contamination of surfaces in children's homes with nicotine and the potent carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamine NNK

Ashley L Merianos; Georg E Matt; Timothy M Stone; Roman A Jandarov; Eunha Hoh; Nathan G Dodder; Penelope J E Quintana; Nicolas Lopez-Galvez; Lara Stone; E Melinda Mahabee-Gittens

doi:10.1038/s41370-023-00629-8

Contamination of surfaces in children's homes with nicotine and the potent carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamine NNK

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2023 Dec 16. doi: 10.1038/s41370-023-00629-8. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ University of Cincinnati, School of Human Services, PO Box 210068, Cincinnati, OH, 45221-0068, USA. ashley.merianos@uc.edu.
² Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 92182-4611, USA.
³ Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences, Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, 160 Panzeca Way, Cincinnati, OH, 45267-0056, USA.
⁴ San Diego State University, School of Public Health, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 92182-4162, USA.
⁵ Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH, 45229-3026, USA.

PMID: 38104233
DOI: 10.1038/s41370-023-00629-8

Abstract

Background: Tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) through secondhand and thirdhand smoke is a modifiable risk factor that contributes to childhood morbidity. Limited research has assessed surface TSE pollution in children's environments as a potential source of thirdhand smoke exposure, and none have examined levels of the tobacco-specific nitrosamine 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) on surfaces.

Objective: This study measured surface NNK and nicotine in children's homes and associations with sociodemographics and parent-reported TSE behaviors. We assessed correlations of surface NNK and nicotine with dust NNK, dust nicotine, and child cotinine.

Methods: Home surface wipe NNK and nicotine data from 84 children who lived with smokers were analyzed. Tobit and simple linear regression analyses were conducted to assess associations of surface NNK and nicotine with child characteristics. Spearman's (ρ) correlations assessed the strength of associations between environmental markers and child cotinine.

Results: Nearly half (48.8%) of children's home surfaces had detectable NNK and 100% had detectable nicotine. The respective geometric means (GMs) of surface NNK and nicotine loadings were 14.0 ng/m² and 16.4 µg/m². Surface NNK positively correlated with surface nicotine (ρ = 0.54, p < 0.001) and dust NNK (ρ = 0.30, p = 0.020). Surface nicotine positively correlated with dust NNK (ρ = 0.42, p < 0.001) and dust nicotine (ρ = 0.24, p = 0.041). Children with household incomes ≤$15,000 had higher surface NNK levels (GM = 18.7 ng/m², p = 0.017) compared to children with household incomes >$15,000 (GM = 7.1 ng/m²). Children with no home smoking bans had higher surface NNK (GM = 18.1 ng/m², p = 0.020) and surface nicotine (GM = 17.7 µg/m², p = 0.019) levels compared to children with smoking bans (GM = 7.5 ng/m², 4.8 µg/m², respectively).

Impact: Although nicotine on surfaces is an established marker of thirdhand smoke pollution, other thirdhand smoke contaminants have not been measured on surfaces in the homes of children living with smokers. We provide evidence that the potent carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamine NNK was detectable on surfaces in nearly half of children's homes, and nicotine was detectable on all surfaces. Surface NNK was positively correlated with surface nicotine and dust NNK. Detectable surface NNK levels were found in homes with indoor smoking bans, indicating the role of NNK as a persistent thirdhand smoke pollutant accumulating on surfaces as well as in dust.

Keywords: Child exposure/health; Children’s health; Dermal exposure; Epidemiology; Inhalation exposure; Vulnerable populations.