Stopping Smoking Reduces Risk of Bacterial Pneumonia

Bacterial pneumonia is one of the most common serious  infections occurring in people living with HIV. ScienceDaily reports that a metanalysis of cohort and case control  studies published in BioMed Central’s open access journal BMC Medicine finds that current smokers with HIV were at double the  risk of bacterial pneumonia than non-smoking counterparts, but that when people  stopped smoking their risk was reduced.

The metanalysis re-analyzed the data of several thousand  participants with HIV, from 14 studies based in the USA,  Europe, and South Africa.  Overall, it appeared that current smoking was associated with a 70-100%  increase in risk of bacterial pneumonia, compared to non-smokers, but that  stopping smoking decreased this by about a third. This was independent of CD4  count or antiretroviral therapy.

Professor Paul Aveyard, from the University of Oxford  and leader of the study, explained that, “Antiretroviral treatment means that  people with HIV can have a normal life expectancy. However, they still have  substantially increased health risks compared to the general population,  including risk of pneumonia. Our results show that smokers with HIV have twice  the risk of bacterial pneumonia, but that stopping smoking can reduce this  risk. In order to prevent this potentially life threatening lung disease we  believe that smoking cessation programs should be promoted as part of HIV  treatment.”

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