• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Health

Greater tobacco use linked to higher levels of inflammation in HIV-positive people

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
March 8, 2021
in Health
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
ADVERTISEMENT
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

UMass Amherst study points to health benefits from reducing cigarette smoking

IMAGE

Credit: UMass Amherst

Inflammation in the body has been linked to the intensity of tobacco smoking among people with HIV, according to a team of University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers.

Krishna Poudel, associate professor of community health education in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, and colleagues reported positive linear relationships between intensity, duration and pack-years of smoking and inflammation in HIV-positive people. They believe it to be the first, more thorough examination of specific smoking-related variables with the levels of inflammation in this group, while also taking into account highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and other important factors.

The study’s findings suggest that people living with HIV would benefit not just from quitting smoking but from smoking less, says Poudel, co-director of the UMass Amherst Institute for Global Health. Poudel is lead author of the paper published in the March issue of the journal AIDS and Behavior.

“While it is important to support and encourage people living with HIV to ultimately quit smoking, it is also important to suggest they reduce the frequency of smoking until they can fully quit. That would also help their health status by reducing inflammation,” says Poudel, noting that a high level of inflammation is linked to a greater risk of disease and death in people living with HIV.

Significantly, HIV-positive people who are receiving HAART have a greater risk of death from tobacco than from HIV-related factors.

In 2010, Poudel and co-author Kalpana Poudel-Tandukar, a UMass Amherst assistant professor of nursing, established the study cohort known as Positive Living with HIV (POLH). The public health researchers collaborated with five non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to recruit 322 HIV-positive people living in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley. Their goal was to gather behavioral, health and biologic information from participants to learn ways to improve the health and well-being of HIV-positive people, especially those in low- and middle-income countries.

The smoking and inflammation paper, whose UMass Amherst co-authors also include epidemiologist Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson and biostatistician Penelope Pekow, is the 18th publication in a peer-reviewed journal related to the POLH cohort study.

For the latest investigation, the researchers interviewed 284 study participants, gathering details about their smoking and medical history and other relevant information, such as whether they were receiving HAART. They asked about how many cigarettes were smoked per day (intensity) and for how many years (duration). Lifetime smoking exposure was gauged in pack-years, which is determined by multiplying the number of packs smoked daily by the number of years the person has smoked.

The team then measured serum C-reactive protein (CRP), a pro-inflammatory biomarker, and several strong predictors of inflammation in the participants. They adjusted for these variables while examining the relationships between smoking and inflammation, using both linear and logistic regression statistical analyses.

“We adjusted for zinc levels and hepatitis C. We adjusted for HAART status and CD4 cell counts. We adjusted for depression and the history of injected drug use,” Poudel says. “We adjusted a total of 16 HIV-related symptoms, as well.”

In each of the dose-response categories, researchers found a positive relationship between smoking and inflammation, although Poudel points out that the study’s cross-sectional design cannot determine causality.

“A significantly higher proportion of the participants with high intensity of smoking (number of cigarettes smoked per day) had high levels of CRP concentrations compared to those with low intensity of smoking status,” the paper states.

The researchers found similar results for smoking duration and pack-years of smoking; that is, participants who had smoked for longer periods and those who had greater pack-years were more likely to have high levels of CRP than those who had smoked for shorter periods and had fewer pack-years.

The important next step is to develop effective smoking reduction and cessation programs for HIV-positive people, whose tobacco use rate is two to three times higher than that of the general population. This is especially important in low- and middle-income countries, where such education and support are rarely available, Poudel says.

“Many HIV-positive people in low- and middle-income countries are willing to quit smoking and need support,” Poudel says. “Our findings highlight an urgent need for providing smoking cessation support to HIV-positive people. While supporting HIV-positive people for quitting smoking is a critical public health priority, HIV care providers should encourage their patients at least to reduce the frequency of smoking, as this would be a positive step toward ultimately quitting smoking.”

###

Media Contact
Patty Shillington
[email protected]

Original Source

https://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/greater-tobacco-use-linked-higher-levels

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10461-020-03048-0

Tags: AddictionAIDS/HIVBehaviorBiologyDisease in the Developing WorldMathematics/StatisticsMedicine/HealthSmoking/TobaccoSocial/Behavioral ScienceToxicology
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

Cardiorespiratory Shifts Following Transcatheter PDA Closure

June 17, 2025
Neocarzilin A Triggers ER Stress to Induce Apoptosis

Neocarzilin A Triggers ER Stress to Induce Apoptosis

June 16, 2025

Global Warming Could Boost Obstructive Sleep Apnea

June 16, 2025

Nerve Fiber Changes in Parkinson’s and Atypical Parkinsonism

June 15, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Green brake lights in the front could reduce accidents

    Study from TU Graz Reveals Front Brake Lights Could Drastically Diminish Road Accident Rates

    159 shares
    Share 64 Tweet 40
  • New Study Uncovers Unexpected Side Effects of High-Dose Radiation Therapy

    76 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19
  • Pancreatic Cancer Vaccines Eradicate Disease in Preclinical Studies

    70 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 18
  • How Scientists Unraveled the Mystery Behind the Gigantic Size of Extinct Ground Sloths—and What Led to Their Demise

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Seamlessly Connect Nanoparticles Like Building Blocks for Industrial Applications!

From Farm to Fashion: How Agricultural Waste is Transforming into Tomorrow’s Textiles

Boosting D-Lactic Acid Production Through UV Irradiation Advances

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.