Can you get cotinine without nicotine? Understanding the sources and metabolism
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3 min read
With an average half-life of about 20 hours, cotinine remains in the body long after the parent compound, nicotine, has been cleared. This is why a person can test positive for cotinine even when a nicotine test is negative, and it reveals that you can get cotinine without nicotine present. The extended detection window makes cotinine a far more effective biomarker for assessing recent nicotine exposure than nicotine itself.
