Smoking doubles
the mortality risk for people with HIV taking antiretroviral therapy, a
study published in AIDS shows.
Smokers had an increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and
non-AIDS-related cancers, and the life expectancy of a 35-year-old man with HIV
was reduced by almost eight years due to smoking.
“Smoking was
associated with a two-fold

Poor weight gain
after starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) is associated with increased
mortality risk for children with HIV, investigators report in the online
edition of AIDS. An international
team of researchers developed a model to examine the association between weight
gain and mortality risk for children starting ART. Poor weight gain was
associated with increased mortality

HIV infection is
associated with reduced physical performance, investigators report in the
online edition of AIDS. They also
found that people living with HIV who had reduced physical function had a
significant increase in their mortality risk.
The study population
comprised middle-aged HIV-positive and HIV-negative people in Baltimore, United States, who either currently inject drugs or

Increased
expenditure on social protection programmes – sickness, disability and
unemployment benefits, old age pensions, housing support – is associated with
improved tuberculosis (TB) control, according to an analysis of data from
European Union (EU) countries published in Lancet
Infectious Diseases.
“Social protection
spending is strongly associated with lower tuberculosis case notification,
incidence, and mortality rates,” comment the

Low-level
elevations in important markers of systemic inflammation are associated with
the development of type-2 diabetes in people taking antiretroviral therapy
(ART), investigators report in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The authors
examined the relationship between baseline levels of high sensitivity
C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and incident

The scale-up of
antiretroviral therapy (ART) programmes in Lusaka, Zambia, has been
accompanied by only modest reductions in the city’s mortality rates,
investigators report in the Bulletin of
the World Health Organization. A series of cross-sectional household
surveys conducted between 2004 and 2011 showed no significant reduction in the
mortality rate. The authors admit this finding

HIV continues to
be stigmatised despite increased access to antiretroviral therapy (ART),
according to research from Uganda published in the online edition of AIDS. Levels of internalised stigma
among people starting ART increased between 2007 and 2012. There was also an
increase in the proportion of individuals in the general public who said they
expected

People living with HIV in the United States who receive
their care through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program have good rates of retention
and virological suppression, investigators report in the online edition of Clinical
Infectious Diseases. Of the patients seen at least once in 2011, some 82%
were retained in care and 73% achieved virological

Liver cancer
screening for people with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection should be
targeted at those with cirrhosis, according to the results of a systematic
review and meta-analysis published in PLOS
ONE. The risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and death were 31- and 44-
times higher, respectively, in people with liver cirrhosis compared to people

De-worming is
associated with falls in viral load and increases in CD4 count and haemoglobin, in
pregnant women living with HIV and receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART), according
to the results of a study conducted in Rwanda and published in the online edition
of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Albendazole – a cheap treatment for helminth infections –