A study to evaluate the effect on Mouth Level Exposure and biomarkers of exposure estimates of cigarette smoke exposure following a forced switch to a lower ISO tar yield cigarette.

A forced switch to a lower ISO tar yield cigarette was used in a clinical study, conducted in Germany, that compared two methods of estimating exposure to cigarette smoke. Pre- and post-switch estimates of Mouth Level Exposure (MLE) to nicotine, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), pyrene and acrolein were obtained by chemical analysis of spent cigarette filters for nicotine content. Similarly, pre- and post-switch estimates of uptake of these smoke constituents were achieved by analysis of corresponding urinary biomarkers of exposure (BoE): total nicotine equivalents; total 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL); total 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP), and 3-hydroxypropyl-mercapturic acid (3-HPMA), plus the nicotine metabolite cotinine, in plasma and saliva. Three hundred healthy volunteers were recruited comprising 100 smokers of each of 9-10 and 4-6 mg ISO tar yield cigarettes and 50 smokers of 1-2mg ISO tar yield cigarettes and 50 non-smokers. Fifty smokers of each of the 9-10 and 4-6 mg ISO tar yield cigarettes took part in the switching aspects of this study whilst the remaining smokers formed non-switching control groups who smoked their usual ISO tar yield cigarette throughout the study. After 5 days, all subjects were admitted into a clinic where baseline measures of MLE and BoE were obtained. The 10mg switching group was then switched to the 4 mg ISO tar yield cigarette and the 4 mg ISO tar yield switching group switched to the 1mg cigarette. Subjects returned home for 12 days, continuing to smoke the supplied cigarettes before being readmitted into the clinic where samples were collected for MLE and BoE analysis. Changes in daily exposure estimates were determined on a group and individual basis for both methods. The pre- to post-switch directional changes in MLEs and their corresponding BoEs were generally consistent and the MLE/BoE relationship maintained. Switching to a lower yield cigarette generally resulted in reductions in exposure with the resultant exposure level being similar to that seen in regular smokers of the lower yield cigarette.