Interventions for tobacco use cessation in people living with HIV and AIDS: Cochrane Nursing Care Field – Cochrane review summary

For people living with HIV (PLWH), antiretroviral therapy has had a major impact on morbidity and mortality rates. Specifically, PLWH are now living longer; life expectancy is now comparable to the general population; and cause of death is more likely to be attributed to a chronic, non-HIV-related illness such as heart disease or lung cancer. In fact, lung cancer is the most prevalent, non-HIV-related cancer amongst PLWH (Molto, Moran, Sirera, & Clotet, 2015). Research has indicated that, when compared with the general population, tobacco consumption and smoking-related disease is significantly greater in this group. A contributing factor is that sustained tobacco use is frequently adopted as a coping mechanism to combat HIV-related symptoms such as neuropathy, depression, and anxiety. Additionally, there is evidence to suggest that PLWH have higher nicotine dependency levels that have a negative impact on the severity of withdrawal symptoms and an individual’s ability to achieve long-term success following tobacco use cessation. Furthermore, tobacco use in PLWH results in higher levels of immune exhaustion and impaired T cell functioning when compared to nonsmoking PLWH.