Abstract

Objective: To investigate how carboxyhaemoglobin concentration is related to smoking habit and to assess whether carboxyhaemoglobin concentration is related to mortality.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Residents of the towns of Renfrew and Paisley in Scotland.

Participants: The whole Renfrew/Paisley study, conducted between 1972 and 1976, consisted of 7048 men and 8354 women aged 45–64 years. This study was based on 3372 men and 4192 women who were screened after the measurement of carboxyhaemoglobin concentration was introduced about halfway through the study.

Main outcome measures: Deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, and all causes in 25 years after screening.

Results: Carboxyhaemoglobin concentration was related to self reported smoking and for each smoking category was higher in participants who reported inhaling than in those who reported not inhaling. Carboxyhaemoglobin concentration was positively related to all causes of mortality analysed (relative rates associated with a 1 SD (2.93) increase in carboxyhaemoglobin for all causes, CHD, stroke, COPD, and lung cancer were 1.26 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.19 to 1.34), 1.19 (95% CI 1.13 to 1.26), 1.19 (95% CI 1.13 to 1.26), 1.64 (95% CI 1.47 to 1.84), and 1.69 (95% CI 1.60 to 1.79), respectively). Adjustment for self reported cigarette smoking attenuated the associations but they remained relatively strong.

Conclusions: Self reported smoking data were validated by the objective measure of carboxyhaemoglobin concentration. Since carboxyhaemoglobin concentration remained associated with mortality after adjustment for smoking, carboxyhaemoglobin seems to capture more of the risk associated with smoking tobacco than does self reported tobacco consumption alone. Analysing mortality by self reported cigarette smoking underestimates the strength of association between smoking and mortality.