Patients with HIV were 12.5 years younger at COPD diagnosis than patients who were HIV-free, according to research published in CMAJ Open. Specifically, HIV patients who received a COPD diagnosis were on average 49.7 years old compared to non-HIV patients receiving COPD diagnosis at 62.2 years old.
Researchers also identified a higher incidence of COPD among those with HIV, with 10.9 cases per 1,000 person-years, compared with nine cases per 1,000 person-years among those without HIV (standardized incidence ratio = 1.16; 95% CI, 1.1-1.21; adjusted rate ratio = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.27-1.41).
“Because women and men with HIV were found to have higher rates of COPD than the general population, and COPD was diagnosed at an earlier age, testing for COPD should be considered in patients with HIV with chronic respiratory symptoms and a history of smoking,” Tony Antoniou, PhD, a scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto, Canada, told Healio Primary Care.
