Assessing smoking behaviour among medical students by the measurement of expired carbon monoxide (CO)

Abstract

Smoking behaviour and prevalence rates among medical students and medical professionals are important public health issues, as physicians' attitudes and interventions are decisive for the patients' success in quitting smoking. Studies dealing with prevalence rates of smoking usually use only face-to-face interviews or self-administered questionnaires, which may induce vague findings. Additional measurement of exhaled carbon monoxide is an objective, easy, immediate, non-invasive and inexpensive mode of indicating smoking behaviour and will complement and at some stage replace the usual question regarding the number of cigarettes consumed. CO-measurement of 260 medical students was taken during compulsory public health training at the Medical University Vienna. Definite indication of active smoking was found in 12% of the students, 9.5% showed CO-levels between 6 and 10 ppm and 78% were definitely non-smokers with a CO level between 0 and 5 ppm. The students had the opportunity to get to know an important diagnostic technique and additionally learned about their own smoking habits.

Predictive Value of Basal Exhaled Nitric Oxide and Carbon Monoxide for Acute Mountain Sickness

“…The use of carbon monoxide (CO) monitors to quantify smoking has been reported, in which the level of exhaled CO has been widely used as an indication of smoking cessation. 20,21 Carbon monoxide may also play an important role in the pathophysiology of airway diseases 22 and hemoglobin survival, which may be potentially related to AMS. 23 However, more precise monitoring is required to determine the relationship between the level of exhaled CO and AMS.…”

Using breath carbon monoxide to validate self-reported tobacco smoking in remote Australian Indigenous communities

“…The utility of BCO analyzers and optimum BCO cutoff to distinguish smokers and nonsmokers is being investigated in different populations around the world[ 27 - 36 ] with different cutoff levels recommended in different populations dependent on the intended use of the BCO test. These include: assessing antenatal smoking[ 15 , 16 , 36 ]; clinical or community surveys[ 17 , 22 , 27 - 29 , 32 , 33 , 37 ]; validating smoking cessation[ 18 , 20 , 30 ]; assessing passive smoking[ 17 ] or environmental pollution[ 35 ]; or investigating sociocultural patterns of smoking[ 23 ]. There is, however, no guidance for the optimum BCO cutoff level to validate self-reported tobacco smoking in community-based surveys in Indigenous Australian populations.…”

A pilot study with early adolescents: dealing with diet, tobacco and air pollution using practical experiences and biological markers

“…Regarding the smoking area, it's already assessed that Ex-Co is a reliable indicator of smoking status in adult and in several subgroups of smokers [34][35][36]. Despite this, few studies investigate if CO measurement among adolescents is an instrument able to discriminate smokers and non-smokers.…”