Use of urine cotinine to validate smoking self-reports in U.S. Navy recruits

Cotinine analysis of urine has been used by many researchers to determine validity of smoking self-reports. This technique is easy and inexpensive, but has not been used previously in military smoking studies. This study incorporated a random validation of self-reported smoking by U.S. Navy recruits participating in a smoking relapse program (N = 496). Results of cotinine analysis indicate only a 1% misrepresentation of actual smoking status. These results suggest smoking self-reports from U.S. Navy recruits are very good indicators of actual smoking status.