Smoking doubles the risk of death among people taking antiretrovirals (ARV) for HIV, aidsmap reports. Publishing their findings in the journal AIDS, researchers analyzed data on 17,995 HIV-positive people from European and North American cohorts (excluding injection drug users) who started ARVs between 1996 and 2008 and about whom there was 79,760 person-years of follow-up information. Sixty percent of the participants were smokers.
The mortality rate among smokers and nonsmokers, factoring in deaths from all causes, was a respective 7.9 and 4.2 per 1,000 person-years.
Smokers were 1.94 times more likely to die than nonsmokers. Smokers were 6.28 times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease and 2.67 times more likely to die of non-AIDS cancers when compared with nonsmokers.
The researchers estimated that a 35-year-old man on successful HIV treatment could expect essentially a normal life expectancy when compared with the HIV-negative “background population” that served as a comparison in the study: Such HIV-positive men could expect to live to 78.5 years of age on average, compared with 79.4 years among the background population. If these HIV-positive men smoked, they could expect to lose 7.9 years off their life expectancy.
To read the aidsmap story, click here.
Advertisement
Thinkstock
People on HIV Treatment Double Their Risk of Death By Smoking
Advertisement
1 Comment
1 Comment