For our insurance we must give blood for a health screening. It says my empolyer won't be informed of any health issues besides tobacco use. I don't really smoke, but occasionally a couple when I drink. How can they tell from a blood draw you smoke?
2006-12-04 03:26:03 · 3 answers · asked by Lisa 3 in Health ➔ Other - Health
Blood tests can show how much cotinine is in your blood. Cotinine is a chemical that is made by the body from nicotine. People who don't smoke have no measurable amounts of cotanine. People who do smoke will have a cotinine level of 10 or higher in their blood, and a typical smoker has levels of 150 to 450 units. If you stop 7-10 days before your test, you should be fine. Cotinine has a half life of 24 hours, which means it can be detected for 4-7 days.
.
2006-12-04 03:58:43 · answer #1 · answered by Johhny Drama 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Scientifically I don't know. However, I am a moderate smoker and one time at the ER when they took out some blood, the nurse commented that it looked very dark and asked if I was a smoker. So I don't know if there'd be chemicals to give you away, or just pigmentation.
2006-12-04 03:42:47 · answer #2 · answered by tekaro 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not to my knowledge, but you do need to make the doctor aware of the consumption of drugs.
2016-03-13 03:17:14 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋