Delivering smoking cessation treatment to individuals with HIV/AIDS: Factors associated with follow-up completion

Research indicates the prevalence of smoking is significantly higher in HIV+ populations compared to the general population. Smoking exacerbates HIV/AIDS-related illnesses and impairs treatment response. Effective smoking cessation interventions for this population must address barriers to treatment completion. This abstract explores the relationships between demographic, behavioral and psychosocial variables and 3-month follow-up completion in a low-income, multiethnic, HIV+ population enrolled in a smoking cessation study. Socio-demographic variables including age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, marital status, employment, and HIV exposure were considered. Behavioral variables included alcohol use, drug use, and smoking history. Distress, social functioning and self-efficacy were also considered. Logistic regression analyses (unadjusted and multivariate) were used to explore the variables of interest. The sample (n=285) was ethnically diverse (14.0% white, 72.6% Black, and 11.2% Hispanic). Average (SD) age at enrollment was 44.7 (7.7). The majority of participants were male (73%); reported ≤ a high school education (76.8%); were unemployed due to health reasons (64.9%); and were single (78.6%). Heterosexual transmission was the most common route of HIV exposure (42.6%). Participants began smoking at an average (SD) age of 18.0 (6.8) and reported smoking 18.7 (11.4) cigarettes/day. Finally, 83.5% reported smoking their first cigarette within 30 minutes of waking. Results from the regression analyses indicated only age had a marginally significant association with follow-up completion (OR= 1.03, 95% CI; 1.0-1.1). Variables often associated with treatment adherence and completion were not significantly associated with follow-up in this sample. Findings suggest that interventions can be designed to ensure individuals are not systematically lost-to-follow-up.