Urine Nicotine & Metabolites




Test Mnemonic

UNICOT

CPT Codes

  • 80323 - QTY (1)
  • G0480 - QTY (1)

LOINC ®

3854-7

Includes

  • Nicotine
  • Cotinine
  • Anabasine
  • 3-OH-COTININE

Performing Laboratory

ARUP


Specimen Requirements

Volume Type Container Collect Temperature Transport Temperature Special Instructions
4 mLUrine, randomClean container (No preservatives) AmbientTransfer 4 mL urine to standard aliquot tube

Minimum Specimen Requirements

Volume Type Container Collect Temperature Transport Temperature Special Instructions
1 mL     

Stability

Environmental Condition Description
Refrigerated10 days
Ambient10 days
Frozen8 months

Days Performed

Sun - Sat

Turnaround Time

2 - 6 days

Methodology

Name Description
Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) 

Reference Range

3-OH-COTININE
Sex Age From Age To Type Range Range Unit
       Normal<50ng/mL
Anabasine
Sex Age From Age To Type Range Range Unit
       Normal< 5ng/mL
Cotinine
Sex Age From Age To Type Range Range Unit
       Normal< 15ng/mL
Nicotine
Sex Age From Age To Type Range Range Unit
       Normal< 15ng/mL

Special Info

Specimens exposed to repeated freeze/thaw cycles are not acceptable. This test is New York DOH approved.

Clinical Info

This test is designed to evaluate recent use of nicotine-containing products. Passive and active exposure cannot be discriminated definitively, although a cutoff of 100 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 non-compliance, inappropriate timing of specimen collection relative to drug administration, poor drug absorption, diluted/adulterated urine, or limitations of testing. The concentration value must be greater than or equal to the cutoff to be reported as positive. Anabasine is included as a biomarker of tobacco use, versus nicotine replacement. Interpretive questions should be directed to the laboratory. This test is for medical purposes only and is not valid for forensic use.