Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Feb;83(1):41-6.
doi: 10.1136/sti.2005.019505. Epub 2006 Aug 21.

Is smoking tobacco an independent risk factor for HIV infection and progression to AIDS? A systemic review

A S Furber  1 , R Maheswaran, J N Newell, C Carroll
Affiliations

Is smoking tobacco an independent risk factor for HIV infection and progression to AIDS? A systemic review

A S Furber et al. Sex Transm Infect. 2007 Feb.

Abstract

Objectives: To systematically review the evidence of the relation between smoking tobacco and HIV seroconversion and progression to AIDS.

Methods: A systematic review was undertaken of studies to look at tobacco smoking as a risk factor for either HIV seroconversion or progression to AIDS.

Results: Six studies were identified with HIV seroconversion as an outcome measure. Five of these indicated that smoking tobacco was an independent risk factor after adjusting for important confounders with adjusted odds ratios ranging from 1.6 to 3.5. 10 studies were identified using progression to AIDS as an end point of which nine found no relation with tobacco smoking.

Conclusions: Tobacco smoking may be an independent risk factor for HIV infection although residual confounding is another possible explanation. Smoking did not appear to be related to progression to AIDS although this finding may not be true in developing countries or with the longer life expectancies seen with highly active antiretroviral therapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: none

References

    1. Asma S, Pederson L. Tobacco control in Africa: opportunities for prevention. Tobacco Control 19998353–354. - PMC - PubMed
    1. UNAIDS AIDS epidemic update. Geneva: UNAIDS, 2004. Available from www.unaids.org/wad2004/report.html, accessed 14 September 2005
    1. Murray C J, Lopez A D. Alternative projections of mortality and disability by cause 1990–2020: Global Burden of Disease Study. Lancet 19973491498–1504. - PubMed
    1. Arcavi L, Benowitz N L. Cigarette smoking and infection. Arch Intern Med 20041642206–2216. - PubMed
    1. Wolf R, Freedman D. Cigarette smoking, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV/AIDS. Int J Dermatol 2000391–9. - PubMed

Publication types