HIV transmission and high rates of late diagnoses among adults aged 50 years and over

Abstract

Our study provides evidence of HIV transmission, high rates of late presentation and an increased risk of short-term mortality among older adults. These findings highlight the need for increased targeted prevention efforts and strategies to increase HIV testing among older adults at risk of HIV.

New HIV Diagnoses among Older Adults in the EU/EEA: Missed Opportunities and Barriers to Testing

“…According to our findings from national studies, newly diagnosed older adults are predominantly native to the country where they were diagnosed with HIV [9,10,43] with men being more predominant in the older age group [9,[43][44][45][46][47], in accordance with recent analyses [4]. However, increasing rate of new HIV diagnoses among older women has been observed in non-EU Eastern European countries [48] as well as in the USA and Canada [41,42,49,50].…”

“…Evidence from some EU/EEA countries suggests risks related to commercial sex [46,47] and travel abroad [9] among heterosexual males. Risk behaviours among older adults, such as condomless sex with non-regular partners, are also reported several studies [16,20,[52][53][54][55][56].…”

“…However, it has been shown that aging PLHIV are subject to an increased level of multimorbidity as compared to the general population, encompassing increased risk of various conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hypertension, types 2 diabetes mellitus and non-AIDS defining cancers [5][6][7]. While people with longer duration of HIV infection show an increased risk for multimorbidity as compared to people that acquire the infection at older age [8], older adults infected with HIV are at increased risk of short-term mortality, particularly if diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease [9,10].…”

Late presenters among newly diagnosed HIV-infected in Poland in 2006-2008

“…In a Barcelona survey, independent risk factors for 56% of late presenters were increased age, heterosexual male gender, intravenous drug use, and being born in South America or sub-Saharan Africa [21]. United Kingdom researchers observed a higher percentage (48%) of late presenters among people aged 50 years and over compared with 33% among younger individuals [22]. Reports from Croatia and Denmark concur with our observation that a significantly higher proportion of heterosexual patients than homosexuals are late presenters [23,24].…”

Measuring Food and Nutrition Security: Tools and Considerations for Use Among People Living with HIV

“…Evidence shows that PLHIV may face a higher risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardio-vascular disease [20,21], conditions which also require careful nutritional management. Food insecurity and elderly PLHIV is also emerging as an important issue [22,23].…”