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Potent combination antiretroviral therapy has substantially reduced the incidence of infectious pulmonary complications of HIV infection. In a recent analysis of U.S. veterans, investigators compared the incidence of infectious and noninfectious respiratory illnesses between HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals.
The study population consisted of 33,000 HIV-positive patients and 67,000 HIV-negative controls matched for demographic characteristics. The median age in the cohort was 45, and 98% of participants were men. A subset analysis indicated that although most participants were past or current smokers, the proportion was significantly higher among HIV-positive patients (80% vs. 76%). Pulmonary diagnoses were identified using ICD-9 cod…