Why Test for Smoking

• Smoking is the most important preventable cause of premature death and ill health.
• The treatment or research of smoking-related illness requires accurate information.
• With increasing social pressure, smokers are increasingly likely to under-report or deny their smoking habit when questioned, especially by healthcare professionals.
• There is a growing trend for biochemical tests to verify self-reported smoking and to quantify nicotine intake.
• Many laboratory tests exist. They mainly rely on the measurement of nicotine breakdown products in urine, saliva or plasma.
• The most widely accepted biomarker for smoking is cotinine.
• Laboratory testing can be expensive and time consuming.
• The time delay involved means the results are of little value to the patient.
• Near-patient or point-of-care testing - tests carried out in the presence of the patient - is an increasing means of providing clinical important information.