Smoking significantly lowers life expectancy among HIV-positive patients

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Health professionals have always said that smoking can cause a number of illnesses that can affect your health negatively. In a recent study, it has been determined that smoking may be particularly harmful to people with HIV, which has more chances of hurting them more than that virus itself.

Experts involved in the study suggested that finding a way for HIV patients to quit smoking could greatly increase their lifespan.

In an article published by Medical Daily, the researchers used a computer simulation to show that tobacco use can reduce the life expectancy of HIV-positive people by about twice as much as the virus itself. It also showed that even those who quit smoking much later in life still had a higher life expectancy than those who continued the habit.

"It is well-known that smoking is bad for health, but we demonstrate in this study just how bad it is,"explained lead researcher, Dr. Krishna P. Reddy of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in a recent statement. "A person with HIV who consistently takes HIV medicines but smokes is much more likely to die of a smoking-related disease than of HIV itself."

According to NBC News, researchers found that a smoker starting HIV treatment at age 40 can expect to live to be 65 for men and 68 for women. Those who previously smoked could expect to live to almost 71 for men and 73 for women. However, people who never smoked could expect to live to be 72 for men and 64 for women.

"We show that even people who have been smoking till age 60 but quit at age 60 have a substantial increase in their life expectancy compared to those who continue to smoke, so it's never too late to quit," Reddy said.

These findings are shocking especially when you think that more than 40 percent of HIV-positive people in the United States also smoke compared to only 15 percent of the adult general population.

Furthermore, smoking was determined to compromise the immune system by helping bacteria colonize and build resistance in the body. A compromised immune system is the main characteristic of HIV, yet another reason for people with the condition to quit smoking.

However, there is a silver lining to the research -- it points out the importance of smoking cessation for this already vulnerable population.

"This study makes clear that we must prioritize smoking cessation among adults with HIV if we want them to have an increase in the quantity (and likely quality) of life," explained Keri N. Althoff, PhD, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study.