Abstract A012: Comparison of NNAL exposure and menthol cigarette use among Black smokers
Authors: Gibbs Denise , Blackman Elizabeth , Kuo Yin-Ming , Andrews Andrew , Devarajan Karthik , Ragin Camille 
Published: September 2020

Introduction: In the U.S., there is little information available on gender differences in menthol cigarette smoking use among Black smokers. NNAL, has been studied as a carcinogenic biomarker of tobacco and second-hand smoker exposure. Total NNAL was analyzed to compare gender differences in NNAL exposure and menthol cigarette use among Black smokers. Method: Urine samples were collected from 117 current smokers who self-reported as persons of African descent and participated in the Cancer Prevention Project of Philadelphia. Participants completed overall health and wellness questionnaires that included information on tobacco use. Samples were analyzed for NNAL using an ultra-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry along with urinary creatinine for NNAL normalization and urine flow correction. We compared mean NNAL concentrations and tobacco metabolism phenotype and menthol cigarette use by gender. Results: Our preliminary results are reported for 48 current smokers, 20 males and 28 females. The majority were daily smokers (males, 80%, females 68%). The majority of participants reported using mentholated cigarettes (total 63%, males 76.9% vs. females 54.6%, p=0.508). Tobacco exposure based on mean NNAL concentrations was higher but not significantly different between males (268 pg/mg creatinine ± 498 SD) and females (159 pg/mg creatinine ± 121 SD; p=0.645, Wilcoxon rank-sum test). Similarly tobacco exposure based on number of cigarettes per day was not (males 7.2 ± 6.6 cig/day vs. females 10.5 ± 7.8 cig/day, p= 0.139 Wilcoxon rank-sum test). Of those who reported use of filtered or mentholated cigarettes there was no significant difference according to sex (p&gt;0.05). Mean NNAL was higher in Black men who smoked mentholated cigarettes compared to Black women but did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.598, Wilcoxon rank-sum test). The majority of smokers were poor metabolizers of tobacco (total 60%, males 60%, females 61%, p=0.261). For those who reported use of mentholated cigarettes there was no significant difference in metabolizer phenotype between males and females (p=0.655). Conclusion: As expected Blacks more often report using mentholated cigarettes and there was no significant difference between males and females for tobacco exposure and metabolism. Our analyses are ongoing as we investigate these findings to address gender differences and health disparities among smokers of African descent in a larger study sample.

Citation Format: Denise Gibbs, Elizabeth Blackman, Yin-Ming Kuo, Andrew Andrews, Karthik Devarajan, Camille Ragin. Comparison of NNAL exposure and menthol cigarette use among Black smokers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr A012.