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IntroductionNon-smoking policies are strictly enforced in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), which may still become contaminated by thirdhand smoke (THS), posing potential health risks to medically fragile infants. Study aims were to explore contamination routes by characterizing nicotine levels (THS proxy) found on the fingers of NICU medical staff and to assess finger-nicotine correlates.MethodsNICU medical staff were surveyed regarding smoking and electronic nicotine devices (ENDS) use/exposure, and household characteristics. Approximately 35% of staff were randomly selected for a finger-nicotine wipe. Three separate quantile regressions modeled percentiles associated with: presence of any finger nicotine, finger-nicotine levels above the median field blank level (i.e. 0.377 ng/wipe), and finger-nicotine levels two times the median blank.ResultsThe final sample size was 246 (n=260 approached; n=14 refusals). Over three-quarters (78.5%) reported some exposure to tobacco smoke or ENDS vapor/aerosols. After field-blank adjustments, the median nicotine level (ng/finger wipe) was 0.232 (IQR: 0.021-0.681) and 78.3% of medical staff had measurable finger-nicotine levels. Both being near smoking in friends'/family members' homes and finger-surface area were related to elevated finger-nicotine levels (p

Introduction: Among women at risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEP), smoking tobacco may be associated with increased severity of alcohol use, and risk for tobacco-exposed and other substance-exposed pregnancies (TEPs/SEPs). Our secondary data analysis of the 'CHOICES Plus' intervention trial explored AEP and SEP risk by smoking status., Methods: Eligible women (N=261) were recruited from 12 primary care clinics in a public healthcare system, not pregnant, aged 18-44 years, drinking >3 drinks/day or >7 drinks/week, sexually active, and not using effective contraception. We compared women who did and did not smoke tobacco on alcohol and drug severity, and psychological distress (e.g. anxiety) at baseline., Results: Participants were primarily Hispanic (47.1%) or non-Hispanic Black (41.8%) and reported incomes <$20000/year (69.3%). Tobacco smoking prevalence was 45.2%. Compared to non-smokers, those who smoked drank more days/week (mean=3.3, SD=2.0 vs mean=2.7, SD=1.8, p<0.01), had higher alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) scores (mean=12.1, SD=7.6 vs mean=9.8, SD=7.1, p<0.05), were more likely to report current drug use (66.1% vs 48.3%, p<0.01), and had a greater number of (lifetime) drugs used (mean=3.0, SD=2.0 vs mean=2.0, SD=1.5 days, p<0.0001). Also, those who smoked reported greater levels of anxiety (mean=5.9, SD=5.6 vs mean=4.5, SD=4.9, p<0.05), lower confidence to not drink (mean=2.8, SD=0.8 vs mean=3.1, SD=1.0, p<0.01), lower confidence to reduce risky drinking (mean=6.3, SD=3.1 vs mean=7.3, SD=2.8, p<0.0001), greater drinking temptations (mean=3.0, SD=0.9 vs mean=2.6, SD=0.9, p<0.01), and, yet greater readiness to reduce alcohol use (mean=6.2, SD=3.0 vs mean=5.2, SD=3.0, p<0.05)., Conclusions: Women who drink and smoke may have the highest AEP, TEP, and other SEP risk. Primary care providers should screen for alcohol and tobacco co-use and provide brief intervention and/or treatment referral., Clinical Trial Registration: The study was registered on the official website of ClinicalTrials.gov., Identifier: ID NCT01032772., Competing Interests: The authors have each completed and submitted an ICMJE form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. The authors declare that they have no competing interests, financial or otherwise, related to the current work. T.F. Northrup reports that since the initial planning of the work, support for the article processing charges was provided by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Department of Family & Community Medicine. K.L. von Sternberg and M.M. Velasquez report that since the initial planning of the work the original trial from which the data were taken was funded by the CDC (1U84DD000438)., (© 2024 Northrup T.F. et al.)