Loneliness in HIV-infected smokers

Abstract

Loneliness is common in persons living with HIV (PLWH). Lonely people smoke at higher rates than the general population, and loneliness is a likely contributor to the ongoing smoking epidemic among PLWH. We explored factors associated with loneliness in a cohort of 272 PLWH smokers enrolled in two separate tobacco treatment trials. Loneliness was independently associated with lack of a spouse or partner, lower educational attainment, “other or unknown” HIV exposure category, depression, anxiety, recent alcohol consumption, and higher daily cigarette consumption. Referral to group therapy reduced loneliness, whereas referral to an individual web-based tobacco treatment did not.

Keywords:

• loneliness
• HIV
• tobacco
• cigarette
• smoking

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Eileen Dolce and Daniela Morales in the conduct of the studies. They would also like to acknowledge the support and cooperation of the staff and patients of the Center for Positive Living. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Cancer Institute, or the National Institutes of Health.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse [grant number R21 DA023362]; the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute [grant number R21CA163100-01], [grant number P30CA051008]. It was also supported by the Clinical Core of the Center for AIDS Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center funded by the National Institutes of Health [grant number AI-51519].

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse [grant number R21 DA023362]; the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute [grant number R21CA163100-01], [grant number P30CA051008]. It was also supported by the Clinical Core of the Center for AIDS Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center funded by the National Institutes of Health [grant number AI-51519].