Older HIV-positive people are just as likely as younger ones to respond well to antiretroviral treatment, a new study in the September 1 edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases reports. However, according to a summary of the data from AIDSmap, the study also found that those over 50 years of age are more often diagnosed with HIV late, and switch their drug regimens much sooner than younger patients.
The team of French researchers found that after six months of drug therapy, 55 percent of older patients and 51 percent of younger patients boosted their CD4 cell count above 350. Similarly, the older patients dropped their viral loads below 200 copies at nearly the same rate as the younger ones—67% and 69% respectively. As promising as these outcomes are, the elderly switched their medications due to side effects just six months after starting them, as opposed to 14 months for younger patients.
Similar to other reports, late diagnosis was a problem for the elders in the study, with 56 percent testing positive when their CD4s were already below 200, compared to 45 percent in the younger group. In fact, a recent study shows that most elderly women do not want to be tested for HIV. But New York City’s Department on Aging recently launched an initiative to pass out condoms and provide safer sex information to the elderly.
