%0 Journal Article %A D V Joseph %A J A Jackson %A J Westaway %A N A Taub %A S A Petersen %A M P Wailoo %T Effect of parental smoking on cotinine levels in newborns %D 2007 %R 10.1136/adc.2006.108506 %J Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition %P F484-F488 %V 92 %N 6 %X Background: Smoking is a major risk factor for cot death. Many infants smoke passively as a result of parental smoking. This paper reports on infants exposed to a smoking environment and how they accumulate metabolites of cigarette smoke, such as cotinine, which may be physiologically harmful.Aim: To assess cotinine levels in infants of smoking parents.Method: Cotinine excretion in urine was assessed in 104 infants, of whom 71 had smoking parents and 33 had non-smoking parents. All cotinine levels were measured at approximately 12 weeks of age. The subjects were selected from a database of infants in developmental physiological studies which assessed the impact of various factors on early postnatal development.Results: On average babies with at least one parent who was a current cigarette smoker excreted 5.58 (95% CI 3.4 to 9.5) times as much cotinine in the urine as did the babies of non-smoking parents. Maternal smoking was the largest contributing factor. Co-sleeping (pā€Š=ā€Š0.037) and the minimum room temperature (pā€Š=ā€Š0.028) were significant contributory factors.Conclusion: Infants from smoking households accumulate cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine, which may have a detrimental effect on the cardiorespiratory system. %U https://fn.bmj.com/content/fetalneonatal/92/6/F484.full.pdf