Men and women are thought to regulate their smoking differently and to differ in their susceptibility to nicotine addiction.
Various measures of smoke exposure were compared between 400 current regular tobacco-dependent (DSM-IV) male and female light (1-15 cigarettes per day) and heavy (>15 cigarettes per day) smokers. Between 2 and 8 PM, blood was collected for nicotine and cotinine analysis, and breath carbon monoxide (CO) was measured. Individuals with genetic variants of the CYP2A6 gene were removed from analysis (n = 25).
No significant difference was found in the number of cigarettes per day or CO levels between the sexes. However, females had significantly lower nicotine levels than males (16.9 +/- 0.6 vs. 21.1 +/- 0.07, p