A person living with HIV’s life expectancy has increased dramatically in recent years. People living with HIV can now expect to live long, healthy lives thanks to advances in treatment, specifically antiretroviral therapy. When the HIV/AIDS epidemic began in the United States in the 1980s, HIV was a potentially fatal disease. People can now manage it as a chronic health condition, similar to diabetes or heart failure.
In this article, we look at recent advances in HIV management and treatment, as well as the long-term outlook. The increased life expectancy for people living with HIV is directly related to advances in medical therapy, including antiretroviral medications.
These medications help to suppress HIV levels in the blood and slow the damage caused by the infection. This suppression aids in the prevention of HIV progression to AIDS, or stage 3 HIV.
Antiretroviral therapy began as monotherapy in the 1980s and evolved into dual therapy in the 1990s. Combination antiretroviral therapy, which includes the use of three or more drugs, is now available. Several antiretroviral drug classes attack in different ways. Drug combinations are the first-line treatment. After being diagnosed with HIV, most people begin antiretroviral therapy as soon as possible.
According to a 2017 study published in the journal, the additional life expectancy for people with HIV at the age of 20 during the early monotherapy era was 11.8 years. However, in the most recent combination antiretroviral era, that figure increased to 54.9 years. Researchers also concluded that people with HIV who had a higher level of education had a life expectancy comparable to the general population.
Treatment options in the future
HIV researchers are still working on a cure. Meanwhile, combination antiretroviral therapy protects an HIV patient’s health. It accomplishes this by reducing the virus in the blood to undetectable levels. The individual must strictly adhere to their therapy plan.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Trusted Source, when a person on antiretroviral therapy has a negative viral load in their blood, the risk of transmitting the virus to someone who does not have HIV is essentially zero.
This discovery leads researchers to the concept of “treatment as prevention,” which promotes HIV control as a means of preventing transmission through sexual contact, needle sharing, childbirth, and breastfeeding. Because people with HIV are living longer lives, they are experiencing the same health issues as other older adults.
Differentiating Alzheimer’s disease from HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders is a growing concern among HIV-positive older adults. Even with advances in antiretroviral therapy, people living with HIV may experience long-term side effects from the therapy or from the virus itself.
Long-term HIV infection is associated with the following conditions:
• coronary artery disease
• pulmonary disease
• specific cancers
• Neurocognitive disorders caused by HIV
• Hepatitis B and C are two types of liver disease.
HIV also appears to increase chronic inflammation in the body, putting a person at risk of developing certain health problems. More research, however, is required to better understand this. Both short- and long-term side effects have been linked to antiretroviral medications. The majority of side effects are manageable, but they can become serious. Concerning side effects should be discussed with a person’s healthcare provider.
Antiretroviral therapy can have the following long-term effects:
• failure of the liver
• cardiovascular disease
• Diabetes type 2
• high cholesterol levels in the blood
• Lipodystrophy refers to changes in the way the body stores fat.
Life expectancy for people living with HIV has increased dramatically in recent years. A person with HIV who begins combination antiretroviral therapy can expect to live for many more years.
According to a 2017 study published in the journal HIV, a person with HIV living in a high-income country would add 43.3 years to their life expectancy if diagnosed at the age of 20. However, if not treated properly, HIV can quickly begin to damage immune system cells.
To keep the virus suppressed in the blood, people living with HIV must adhere to their treatment plan. It is also critical for the individual to maintain all other aspects of their health and well-being while working closely with their healthcare providers regularly