Prevalence and predictors of cigarette smoking among people with HIV in Western Jamaica

ABSTRACT

With highly active antiretroviral therapy, HIV infection has become a treatable chronic disease. However, modifiable risk factors such as cigarette smoking continue to impact the morbidity and mortality of people with HIV (PWH). We assessed the prevalence and factors associated with cigarette smoking and motivation to quit among PWH in Western Jamaica. A cross-sectional study was conducted in which 392 adults seeking HIV care at health facilities in Western Jamaica completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Current smoking prevalence among participants was 17.4%. Current smoking was significantly associated with being male (OR = 2.99), non-Christian/non-Rastafarian (OR = 2.34), living or working with another smoker (aOR =1.86), being moderate to severely depressed (OR = 3.24), having an alcohol drinking problem (OR = 1.84), and never being asked by a healthcare provider if they smoked (OR = 3.24). Among the PWH who currently smoke, 36.7% are moderately to highly dependent on nicotine. One-third of people who smoke (33.8%) started smoking for the first time after HIV diagnosis, while 66.2% initiated smoking before; 88% were willing to quit smoking. These findings provide baseline information for designing and implementing a comprehensive smoking cessation program that considers the needs of PWH in Jamaica, with the potential of becoming a replicable model for other HIV-specialized healthcare settings in the Caribbean.

KEYWORDS:

• Cigarette smoking
• prevalence
• HIV
• PWH
• smoking cessation
• Jamaica

Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good health and well-being, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities

Acknowledgment

We thank the Staff at the HIV Treatment Centers for their kind assistance with recruitment and the PWH for their kind participation in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

Aguilera D, Rinola B, and Tundealao S contributed equally as first authors to this paper. Conceptualization: [Tami-Maury I]; Protocol development and investigation: [Aung M, Jolly P, Johnson-Wallace D, Tami-Maury I]; Methodology: [Klaff R, Aung M, Jolly P, Tami-Maury I]; Participant recruitment, data collection, and data entry: [Aguilera D, Rinola B]; Data analysis: [Tundealao S, Tami-Maury I]; Writing – original draft preparation: [Aguilera D, Rinola B, Tundealao S, Kalff R]; Review of original draft [Jolly P, Aung M, Johnson-Campbell M, Stephenson R, Johnson-Wallace D, Tami-Maury I]; Final review and editing: [All authors]; Funding acquisition: [Jolly P, Tami-Maury I]; Resources: [Aung M]; Supervision: [Aung M, Jolly P, Johnson-Campbell M, Stephenson R, Johnson-Wallace D, Tami-Maury I].

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Minority Health Research Training (MHRT) grant number T37-MD001448 from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA (Principal Investigator: P. Jolly) and partially supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) award number 1K22CA237639 (Principal Investigator Irene Tami-Maury). The Western Regional Health Authority, Ministry of Health, Montego Bay, Jamaica, provided personnel, resources, facilities, and transportation support.