Smoking Cessation

- People living with HIV are known to be at increased risk for smoking-related illnesses. - Researchers find varenicline safe and effective at helping people with HIV quit smoking. - Cessation counsellors who are infectious disease specialists have higher quit rates. The widespread use of potent HIV treatment (ART) has led to improved measures of health and near-normal life expectancy for many people with HIV in Canada and other high-income countries. However, studies have found that ART us

HIV infection is associated with airway obstruction, French investigators report in AIDS. Middle-aged HIV-positive smokers were matched with HIV-negative smokers of the same sex and age. After controlling for potential confounders, the investigators found a significant association between HIV and airway obstruction, an association that persisted after controlling for history of previous serious lung disease. Smoking intensity was also a significant risk factor. Lung function was measured usi

People living with HIV on antiretroviral treatment with fully suppressed viral load who smoke are much more likely to die of lung cancer than HIV-related causes, according to the findings of a modelling study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine. The study suggests that people on successful antiretroviral treatment are between six and thirteen times more likely to die of lung cancer than of any AIDS-related illness, and 10% of all people with HIV who are linked to care will eventually

Geneva, Addis Ababa, 3 July 2017—African heads of state have endorsed two major new initiatives to help end AIDS by 2030. The community health workers initiative aims to recruit, train and deploy 2 million community health workers across Africa by 2020. The western and central Africa catch-up plan aims to rapidly accelerate access to HIV treatment in the region and close the gap in access between African regions. The initiatives were endorsed at the AIDS Watch Africa Heads of State and Gov

HIV-positive people have impaired respiratory health, even when they have viral suppression with antiretroviral therapy (ART), investigators from London report in HIV Medicine. Respiratory health was compared between HIV-positive and HIV-negative outpatients. Individuals with HIV had poorer respiratory health and were more likely to report breathlessness than HIV-negative participants, findings which remained unchanged when analysis focused on ART-treated HIV-positive people with an undetec

Yesterday, the Lancet published a study titled ‘Survival of HIV-positive patients starting antiretroviral therapy between 1996 and 2013: a collaborative analysis of cohort studies’. This study found that ‘even in the late ART era, survival during the first three years of ART continues to improve.’ In fact, the authors found that ‘between 1996 and 2010, life expectancy in 20-year-old patients starting ART increased by about nine years in women and ten years in men.’ The authors con

At the beginning of last August I quit smoking for the last time, after having smoked for roughly half my life, but in spells of about seven years on and seven off. An odd pattern, I know. It wasn’t planned, it just worked out that way. And so I got lots of experience at giving up the habit, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. And at times it was easy to quit, while at others it was incredibly hard and sometimes downright impossible. For instance, one day fairly early in my smoking care

Smoking “dramatically” increases the risk of pregnancy loss – miscarriage or stillbirth – in HIV-positive women, US investigators report in the online edition of AIDS. Researchers from the large Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) examined the impact of smoking on pregnancy loss in HIV-positive and HIV-negative women over a 20-year period. The effect of smoking on pregnancy loss differed dramatically by HIV status, increasing the absolute risk by 19% in HIV-positive women compare

“It may be hard for some to understand, but far from feeling like a victim, I feel blessed. Sure, I would rather there was no such thing as HIV but there is and one day I contracted it. That's mine. It's a part of my life and it informs my life in ways that I love. From adversity, opportunity.” Those words come from a column I wrote some time ago about the first anniversary of my HIV diagnosis and the reasons why I found it something to celebrate and not to mourn. I find it a bit hard to

People living with HIV are living longer – but are also disproportionately affected by diabetes, heart disease and smoking-related illness. These ailments are not only a result of HIV, but rather are usually the result of lifestyle choices and risks factors such as tobacco use, low physical activity and poor diet. “One of the real challenges today for people living with HIV is to grow old in an healthy way,” said Dr. Jose Côté, principal investigator of the LHIVE Healthy study. It is i

This article previously appeared at POZ.com here. Quitting cigarettes is a challenge for any smoker, but it can be especially tough for those living with HIV. That’s because the HIV population sees higher rates of depression, anxiety and substance abuse—psychiatric issues that can make kicking the habit all the more challenging. But quitting is possible, and it just got easier, thanks to Jonathan Shuter, MD, and his team at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. They developed a free onli

“All forms of addiction come with varying levels of stigma. What was happening to me, to my body, to my very life was addiction pure and simple.”  Before I started blogging I used to write for an online HIV magazine PositiveLite.com. I highly recommend this site; it is always current and informative. I wrote for PositiveLite.com for over two years and as I look back on the various articles and topics I wrote of there is this glaring truth that I wrote a lot on the subject of my many atte

This article by Mark Mascolini from The Center for AIDS Information & Advocacy also appeared in The Body Pro here.   Summary: Smoking exacts a huge toll on the health of everyone who becomes addicted to nicotine. That toll is greater in people with HIV, and not only because as a group they smoke more than the general population. Research shows that smoking subtracts more years from the life of a middle-aged person with HIV than HIV itself. Nicotine addiction raises the risk of allcause

The Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN) and PositiveLite.com have partnered in a project to reduce smoking rates in people living with HIV, given the harmful effects on our health, quality of life and other related factors. Here’s the OHTN’s Diana Campbell with an update.  Hello! We here at Positive Quitting wanted to send an update about smoking cessation activities in Ontario. There’s been a lot of activity across the province and some good momentum building as we draw attention to

We were so good together, everyone said so. We had a love hate relationship lasting more than 25 years, and if truth be told the lovin’ heavily outweighed the hate. I didn’t want to quit and no one is more surprised than I that I stopped smoking. Smoking was a reliable and gratifying companion through the brightest and darkest of times.  For over twenty years I didn’t experience any noticeable health effects and like most smokers I felt impervious and unique in my resilience. I was