AEGiS-UPI: HIV infection linked with lung disease

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

HIV infection linked with lung disease

United Press International - November 14, 2006

NEW HAVEN, Conn., - U.S. medical scientists suggest patients who are HIV positive may be at an increased risk for developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The researchers from Yale University School of Medicine investigated the prevalence of COPD among 1,014 HIV-positive and 713 HIV-negative men enrolled in the Veterans Aging Cohort 5 Site Study.

Results showed the prevalence of COPD was 10 percent in HIV-positive and 9 percent in HIV-negative patients -- as reported by clinicians, and 15 percent and 12 percent, in that order, as indicated by patient self-reporting.

However, after adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, pack-years of smoking, injection drug use and alcohol abuse, HIV infection was an independent risk factor for COPD, with HIV-infected patients 50 percent to 60 percent more likely to have COPD than HIV-negative subjects.

This study appears in the November issue of the journal CHEST.

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