Interovarian differences in levels of cotinine, a major metabolite of nicotine, in women undergoing IVF who are exposed to cigarette smoke.

PURPOSE: Our purpose was to determine whether there is variation in levels of follicular fluid (FF) cotinine between the two ovaries of women undergoing IVF-ET who are exposed to cigarette smoke.
METHODS: In 61 women, there were two to four determinations of FF continine levels for each of two follicles, one from each ovary. For each woman a t test for significant difference between the means of both ovaries was done to test for interovarian variation.
RESULTS: Thirty-seven nonsmokers, 8 passive smokers, and 16 active smokers differed greatly (P < 0.0001) in mean FF cotinine levels: 13.0, 91.1, and 420.3 ng/ml, respectively. Fourteen women had significant differences, at the P = 0.025 level or below, between their two ovaries. Five of them had differences significant at the 0.001 level. Even so, the correlation between the cotinine levels of the two ovaries was high.
CONCLUSIONS: Cotinine uptake between the two ovaries of a woman may differ approximately one-fourth of the time. In spite of these differences, the overall correlation between ovaries is high. The clear distinction in levels of FF cotinine among active, passive, and nonsmokers demonstrates the reliability of FF cotinine testing. Detection of cotinine in a large proportion of nonsmokers shows how pervasive nicotine is in the environment.