Estimating use of nicotine containing products and evaluating tobacco-related health risks through wastewater analysis

This project aims to provide objective information on the use of tobacco and non-tobacco nicotine containing products, and human health risks associated with smoking by analysing target chemicals in wastewater.

This project investigated consumption patterns of total nicotine, tobacco-derived nicotine, and non-tobacco nicotine among different demographic population groups, as well as assessing long-term temporal trends across multiple catchments in Australia.

Meanwhile, this project also assessed the tobacco-related public health risks, such as the exposure levels to tobacco-specific carcinogens and oxidative stress responses.

Research Outcomes

The outcomes of this project:

Lower level of nicotine consumption among university populations than general populations, could be due to lower smoking prevalence, and the tobacco-free campus policy
Reduction of tobacco-derived nicotine consumption reflects the effectiveness of tobacco control policies in Australia
Upward trend of non-tobacco nicotine consumption has been observed across Australia, which is in line with the increasing prevalence from survey data

Research Impact

The research results of this PhD project have proved the ability of wastewater-based epidemiology in estimating nicotine/tobacco consumption, which has contributed to the collaboration with ATO to assess the illicit tobacco market in Australia.

Research Outputs

Wang, Z., Zheng, Q., Tscharke, B.J., Li, J., O'Brien, J.W., Patterson, B., Zhao, Z., Thomas, K.V., Mueller, J.F. and Thai, P.K., 2024. High throughput and sensitive quantitation of tobacco-specific alkaloids and nitrosamines in wastewater. Talanta, 277, p.126401.

Wang, Z., Zheng, Q., O'Brien, J.W., Tscharke, B.J., Chan, G., Thomas, K.V., Mueller, J.F. and Thai, P.K., 2024. Analysis of wastewater from 2013 to 2021 detected a recent increase in nicotine use in Queensland, Australia. Water Research, 250, p.121040.

Wang, Z., Zheng, Q., Gartner, C., Chan, G.C., Ren, Y., Wang, D. and Thai, P.K., 2021. Comparison of tobacco use in a university town and a nearby urban area in China by intensive analysis of wastewater over one year period. Water Research, 206, p.117733.

Conference Abstracts

Wang, Z., Zheng, Q., Tscharke, B.J., Li, J., Zhao, Z., O'Brien, J.W., Thomas, K.V., Mueller, J.F. & Thai, P.K. Development and validation of a direct injection liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for tobacco-specific alkaloids and carcinogens analysis in wastewater, Queensland Mass Spectrometry Symposium, Brisbane, Australia, 9 February 2024.

Wang, Z., Zheng, Q., Wang, S., Yuan, J., O'Brien, J.W., Tscharke, B.J., Thomas, K.V., Mueller, J.F. & Thai, P.K. Analyzing spatial and temporal trends of tobacco use over a five-year period (2017 – 2022) in Australia, 2024 SRNT-Oceania Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 30 May 2024.

Wang, Z., Zheng, Q., Tscharke, B.J., O'Brien, J.W., Mueller, J.F., Thomas, K.V. & Thai, P.K. Assessing national trends of non-tobacco nicotine use in Australia via wastewater analysis, APSAD Conference, Canberra, Australia, 30 October - 2 November 2024.