Nicotine and Metabolites, Serum or Plasma, Quantitative

Methodology: Quantitative Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Positive cutoff: 5 ng/mL

For medical purposes only; not valid for forensic use.

This test is designed to evaluate recent use of nicotine-containing products. Passive and active exposure cannot be discriminated definitively, although a cutoff of 10 ng/mL cotinine is frequently used for surgery qualification purposes. For smoking cessation programs or compliance testing, the absence of expected drug(s) and/or drug metabolite(s) may indicate noncompliance, inappropriate timing of specimen collection relative to drug administration, poor drug absorption, or limitations of testing. This test cannot distinguish between use of tobacco and purified nicotine products. The concentration value must be greater than or equal to the cutoff to be reported as positive.