Urinary Biomarkers of Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure and Asthma Morbidity in the School Inner-City Asthma Study

Introduction: Despite significant progress, asthma remains the most common and costly chronic disease of childhood. Unfortunately, exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), a major asthma precipitant, is common in the inner-city. The primary objectives of this study were to understand the sources and degree of ETS exposure, to determine if urinary cotinine can be reliably correlated with caregiver reports of a child’s ETS exposure, and to estab lish if urinary cotinine levels are independently associated with asthma morbidity or allergic sensitization in a …