Life expectancy for people living with HIV has increased by more than 15 years since the mid-’90s in the United Kingdom, according a study in the British Medical Journal and reported by Medical News Today. The survival rate is most likely due to earlier diagnosis and improvements in antiretroviral therapy. Researchers looked at data from more than 17,500 people who started ARV treatment between 1996 and 2008 at HIV clinics throughout the United Kingdom and compared their life expectancy with that of the HIV-negative U.K. population. Specifically, the study found that a 20-year-old HIV-positive person who started ARV therapy today with a CD4 count of 350 could expect to live an additional 45.8 years—in other words, till the age of 65.8 (for men, the number was 39.5 additional years; for women, 50.2 additional years). Survival figures are still 13 years less than the general U.K. population.

To read the Medical News Today article, click here.