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Smoking cessation efforts key component in HIV care
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Findings published today in Clinical Infectious Diseases reinstate the significance of including smoking cessation efforts in the long-term, integrated care for those with HIV. Compared with nonsmokers with HIV, a significant increase was observed in all-cause and non-AIDS-associated mortality among those who smoked.
For the Danish HIV Cohort Study, researchers pooled and compared data on mortality associated with smoking among 2,921 patients with HIV and 10,642 controls without HIV residing in Denmark between 1995 and 2010.
According to background information in the study, people with HIV are treated in one of Denmark’s eight specialized medical centers and are seen at intervals of 12 weeks; ART is provided for free; and treatment failures and loss to follow-up are uncommon.
Non-AIDS and all-cause mortality was significantly increased among those who smoked vs. those who did not smoke (95% CI, 3.0-6.7 and 95% CI, 3.2-8.8, respectively).
The excess mortality rate per 1,000 person-years for current smokers was 17.6 among those with HIV (95% CI, 13.3-21.9) and 4.8 among controls (95% CI, 3.2-6.4).
Life-years lost associated with smoking among those with HIV were 12.3 years (95% CI, 8.1-16.4) vs. 5.1 years among nonsmokers (95% CI, 1.6-8.5). Further, the population attributable risk for death associated with smoking was 61.5% among those with HIV vs. 34.2% among controls.
“In a setting where HIV care is well organized and ART is free of charge, HIV-infected smokers lose more life-years to smoking than to HIV,” the researchers wrote. “Excess mortality for smokers is tripled and the population-attributable risk for death associated with smoking is doubled among HIV patients compared with the background population.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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