Can anybody recommend a threshold level (CO level) for being indentified as "quitted smoking" and any suggestions for advanced reading?
When I conducted experimental studies requiring smoking abstinence (into the effects of exercise on cravings during abstinence) a few years ago the commonly used cutoff was 10ppm of CO. I have also heard of 5ppm as being used, however I think this is less common as it may be too stringent and may detect CO from other sources, for example if someone lived near a busy road. I think 10ppm is used in the UK NHS Stop Smoking Service.
There is a bit in McEwen et al (2006) The manual of smoking cessation. Oxford: Blackwell on CO monitoring (pp. 702-74), where a level of 10ppm is recommended, although there are no references from this. Indeed, the 10ppm cutoff seems to be taken as a given - none of the papers examining the effect of exercise on cravings during abstinence that have stated using the 10ppm as a CO cutoff have referenced this. I have had a quick look on PubMed and I can't find what you are after on there either (and I am sure you have already tried that). What do you need the reading for? Is it to justify your choice? It looks from the literature that if you use 10ppm you would not need to justify it, although someone else may be able to suggest some reading.
Cut off for differentiating smokers from nonsmokers has been defined as 8ppm
(Biochemical verification of tobacco use and cessation. Nicotine Tob Res 2002;4:149-159)
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