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. 2021 Jan;25(1):148-153.
doi: 10.1007/s10461-020-02952-9.

Persistent Disparities in Smoking Rates Among PLWH Compared to the General Population in Philadelphia, 2009-2014

Cedric H Bien-Gund  1 , Grace H Choi  2   3 , Antonios Mashas  3 , Pamela A Shaw  2 , Melissa Miller  3 , Robert Gross #  4   2   5 , Kathleen A Brady #  3
Affiliations

Persistent Disparities in Smoking Rates Among PLWH Compared to the General Population in Philadelphia, 2009-2014

Cedric H Bien-Gund et al. AIDS Behav. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

Despite reductions in smoking rates in the general population, little is known about recent smoking trends among people living with HIV (PLWH). We compared the risk for smoking and temporal trends in smoking among PLWH and the general population in the Philadelphia metropolitan area between 2009 and 2014. We used weighted logistic regression to assess the relation between HIV and smoking, and examined temporal smoking trends. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) for smoking comparing PLWH to the general population was 1.80 (95% CI 1.55-2.09) after adjusting for socio-economic, demographic, and mental health diagnosis variables. Smoking prevalence decreased in both the PLWH and general populations during the study period, and we did not observe a significant difference in rates of decline between groups (P = 0.54). Despite overall progress in smoking cessation, a disparity persisted in smoking rates between PLWH and the general population, with and without adjustment for socio-economic, demographic, and mental health variables. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms linking HIV and tobacco use in order to inform public health efforts to reduce smoking among PLWH.

Keywords: HIV infection; Smoking; Smoking cessation; Tobacco use.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: Dr. Gross serves on a Data and Safety Monitoring Board for Pfizer Inc for medication trials unrelated to HIV or smoking.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Current smoking prevalence estimates and trend by survey year among PLWH and general population Panel A shows total population estimates from the unadjusted models, and Panel B shows model estimates for a person who is aged 40-49, Male, non-Hispanic black, high school educated, at or above federal poverty, health insured, and has no mental health diagnosis. MMP = Medical Monitoring Project, representing people living with HIV. HHS = Household Health Survey, representing the general population.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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