A personal monitoring study to assess workplace exposure to environmental tobacco smoke

Abstract

We enrolled 15 nonsmoking volunteers to evaluate the feasibility of measuring personal exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) at work and to characterize workplace exposures. During one workshift, we obtained questionnaires on exposure, saliva and urine for cotinine, and personal air samples for respirable particles and nicotine. The levels of cotinine, respirable particles, and nicotine varied widely with self-reports of exposure to ETS, but on average increased with increasing exposure.