Harm reduction may be a better approach for smokers with HIV than strict smoking cessation

An expansive harm reduction approach for people with HIV who smoke tobacco and are unable or unwilling to quit should be employed, a team of US experts argue in The Lancet HIV. The limited success of smoking cessation strategies in this population brings them to propose this approach. Harm reduction would encompass cutting down on cigarette intake, and also reducing the health consequences of smoking through more lung cancer screening and better control of cardiovascular health.

“We hope this Viewpoint will help to begin shifting the idea of tobacco treatment in the setting of comprehensive HIV care from a strictly all-or-none cessation approach, which succeeds for only a small minority of smokers living with HIV, to a harm reduction approach that might extend substantial benefit to both those who are able to quit and to the majority who continue smoking,” they say.

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