Environmental tobacco smoke exposure is associated with increased levels of metals in children’s saliva

Background Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has been associated with detectable levels of cotinine (a nicotine metabolite) in children’s saliva. However, tobacco smoke also contains toxic and essential trace metals, including chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn). Objective The current study examines whether there is a relationship between ETS exposure, as gauged by salivary cotinine, and salivary levels of these metals in a subset ( n = 238) of children from the Family Life Project. Methods Using inductively-coupled-plasma optical emission spectrophotometry, we measured levels of metals in saliva from children at ~90 months of age. Salivary cotinine was measured using a commercial immunoassay. Results We found that Cr, Cu, Mn, and Zn were detected in most samples (85–99%) with lower levels of detection for Pb and Ni (9.3% and 13.9% respectively). There were no significant differences in any of the metal concentrations between males and females, nor were levels associated with body mass index, although significant differences in salivary Cr and Mn by race, state and income-to-needs ratio were observed. Children with cotinine levels >1 ng/ml had higher levels of Zn ( b = 0.401, 95% CI: 0.183 to 0.619; p = 0.0003) and Cu ( b = 0.655, 95% CI: 0.206 to 1.104; p = 0.004) compared to children with levels <1 ng/ml, after controlling for multiple confounders, including sex, race, BMI and income-to-needs ratio. Further, we show that children whose cotinine levels were >1 μg/L were more likely to have detectable levels of Pb in their saliva ( b = 1.40, 95% CI: 0.424 to 2.459; p = 0.006) compared to children with cotinine levels <1 ng/ml, also considering confounders. Impact statement This is the first study to demonstrate significant associations between salivary cotinine and salivary levels of Cu, Zn and Pb, suggesting that environmental tobacco smoke exposure my be one source of increased children’s exposure to heavy metals. This study also demonstrates that saliva samples can be used to measure heavy metal exposure, and thus serve as a non-invasive tool for assessing a broader range of risk indicators.