• Addictive behaviors · Jan 2011

    Tobacco use and nicotine dependence among HIV-infected and uninfected injection drug users.

    • Mariah M Marshall, Gregory D Kirk, Neil E Caporaso, Meredith C McCormack, Christian A Merlo, John C Hague, Shruti H Mehta, and Eric A Engels.
    • Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, United States. mariahm111@gmail.com
    • Addict Behav. 2011 Jan 1; 36 (1-2): 61-7.

    IntroductionUrban U.S. populations are burdened by intersecting epidemics of HIV infection, injection drug use, and cigarette smoking. Given the substantial morbidity attributable to tobacco in these populations, we characterized smoking behaviors, nicotine addiction, and tobacco exposure among HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected injection drug users (IDUs) in Baltimore, Maryland.MethodsSmoking behaviors among participants in the ALIVE Study were assessed using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Smoking history and nicotine dependence (Fagerstrom Index scores) were compared by HIV and drug injecting status. Serum cotinine (a nicotine metabolite) was measured for a sample of participants by enzyme immunoassay.ResultsAmong 1052 participants (29.7% HIV-infected, 39.8% active injectors), 85.2% were current smokers and 9.3% were former smokers. Smoking prevalence, age at smoking initiation, and cumulative tobacco exposure were similar by HIV status. Median Fagerstrom scores of 4 for HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected smokers indicated moderate nicotine dependence. Daily cigarette consumption was identical by HIV status (median 10 cigarettes), although HIV-infected participants were less likely to smoke 1+ pack daily compared to HIV-uninfected participants (18.0% vs. 26.9%, p=0.001). Compared to former injectors, active injectors had higher smoking prevalence (90.5% vs. 81.7%, p=0.0001), greater daily cigarette consumption (30.7% vs. 19.6% smoked 1+ pack daily, p=0.0001), and slightly higher Fagerstrom scores (median 5 vs. 4). Cotinine levels paralleled self-reported cigarette consumption.DiscussionTobacco use is extremely common among inner-city IDUs. Smoking behavior and nicotine dependence did not materially differ by HIV status but were associated with active drug injection. Cessation efforts should target the dual dependence of cigarettes and drugs experienced among this population.Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…