HIV & Aging Archive

Aging with HIV infection is a new, world-wide, phenomenon and investigators are only beginning to understand its implications for clinical care and for our understanding of aging more generally. A collection in the July 2014 issue of Current Opinions in HIV AIDS summarizes what is understood and topics of ongoing investigation. An introductory editorial, written by Drs. Amy Justice and Julian Falutz, suggest that this phenomenon provides a largely untapped opportunity for scientific discovery and clinical insight, emphasizing that for most people aging with HIV infection, life expectancy is not yet “normal” and the experience of aging with HIV infection is not just like that of aging without HIV infection.

When I was diagnosed in 1988 with HIV, I thought it was a death sentence. The Olympic Games were only six months away and I had to make the decision whether to train or lock myself away and wait to die. The choice to train for the Olympics was a decision I didn’t come to lightly. Once that decision was made, I listened to my doctors and religiously took my AZT. Thank God I did. My decision paid off. I won two Olympic Gold medals and was able to reclaim my championships from the previous Olympic Games. But even while celebrating my success at the Olympics at 28 years old, I honestly didn’t expect to see my 30th birthday.

“More than 50% of HIV-infected adults in the US will be >50 years old in 2015……There is growing concern among patients and healthcare providers that this group is experiencing a premature or ‘accelerated aging’ process……We determined that HIV-infected older adults on effective ART (with suppressed HIV-1 viral loads) had diminished physical performance results when compared to normal reference controls…..Physical function was significantly diminished in older HIV+ persons when compared to reference standards for HIV- age/gender-matched controls. The magnitude of differences observed may be associated with poorer health, more disabilities, longer hospital stays, and higher costs, thus warranting intervention.”

For those at high risk, sexual behavior has more often been defined through the narrow prism of HIV prevention. But, sexual health is broadly defined as more than just the absence of dysfunction or disease. Sexual health is a significant element contributing to the quality of life of older adults.