‘A 35-year-old HIV patient had a median life expectancy of 62.6 years for smokers and 78.4 years for non-smokers; the numbers of life-years lost in association with smoking and HIV was 12.3 and 5.1,’ the study findings read.
The study was conducted by a research team at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Between 1995 and 2010 they collected mortality data from 2 921 people living with HIV and a control group of 10 642.
The findings show that non-Aids related mortality substantially increased among smoking patients compared to those who did not smoke. The authors concluded that in a setting where effective HIV treatment is freely available, HIV infected smokers lose more life-years to smoking than HIV.
Sources: Clinical Infectious Disease, Daily Monitor
