Smoking among people living with HIV/AIDS: a bibliometric analysis (GAP_RESEARCH)

Tobacco smoking undermines the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and potentially associates with other health problems. This study aimed to analyze the growth and content of research on smoking among PLWHA on Web of Science Database. Co-occurrence analysis and Jaccard's' similarity index calculation were performed to identify and visualize networks of countries collaboration, keywords co-occurrence, and research topics. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to the abstracts' contents to uncover research domains and landscapes. The number of publications increased by 14.55% annually in the period of 1991-2017, with 74% of total papers published within 2007-2017. A wide range of topics have been covered, notably co-morbidities, interventions on smoking abstinence and cessation, and the enforcing relationship of smoking cessation with antiretroviral treatment adherence. A shortage of studies on smoking among PLWHA in low- and middle-income countries, limited collaborations between countries outside of close geographical proximity and a lack of discussion on local contexts and psychosocial factors were found. Smoking among PLWHA has been being studied more extensively in recent years, enhancing our knowledge and awareness of the significant and specific effects smoking have on PLWHA, which, in turn, assisting the proposals and implementations of suitable solutions. However, more efforts should be made to examine and understand contextualized aspects, including culture and beliefs specific to each nation or smaller sub-population within a country, especially those currently under-researched, as well as psycho-behavioral factors to implement more effective interventions to reduce smoking among PLWHA.