Perceived risk of developing smoking-related disease among persons living with HIV

• Main Authors: Johnson, M.W (Author), McClernon, F.J (Author), Pacek, L.R (Author), Rass, O. (Author), Sweizter, M.M (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2018
• Subjects: adult; Adult; adverse event; Amazon Mechanical Turk; antiretroviral therapy; Article; bronchitis; cerebrovascular accident; cigarette smoking; Cigarette Smoking; complication; emphysema; female; Female; health behavior; Health Behavior; health care personnel; health hazard; heart disease; HIV; HIV Infections; human; Human immunodeficiency virus infection; Humans; income; lung cancer; major clinical study; male; Male; marriage; mental capacity; morbidity; mortality; named groups of persons; pathophysiology; perception; persons living with human immunodeficiency virus; priority journal; risk factor; Risk Factors; risk perception; Smokers; smoking; Smoking; smoking cessation; Smoking Cessation; Social Perception; tobacco; tobacco use
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 Perceived risk of smoking is associated with smoking status, interest in quitting, cessation attempts, and quit success. Research is needed to explore risk perceptions of developing smoking-related disease among persons living with HIV (PLWH). Data came from 267 HIV-positive smokers who completed an online survey assessing perceived health risks associated with (a) generic smoking status; (b) generic non-smoking status; (c) their own personal current smoking; and (d) a hypothetical situation in which they were a non-smoker. PLWH perceived greater risk associated with their current smoking versus hypothetical personal non-smoking (p’s < 0.001), and greater risks associated with generic smoking status compared with their current smoking (p’s < 0.001). Being on HIV medication (β = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.17, 1.12), interest in quitting smoking (β = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.45, 1.32), and having an HIV healthcare provider who has recommended cessation (β = 1.04, 95% CI = 0.42, 1.67) were positively associated with perceived risk of developing smoking-related diseases. Findings have implications for developing targeted interventions to correct misperceptions regarding the health risks of smoking among PLWH, a population at particular risk for smoking and smoking-related morbidity and mortality. © 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.