Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV’s) effect on how one age is controversial and poorly understood. Researchers compared the occurrence of 4 age-related non-communicable diseases in those with and without HIV to determine if people living with HIV suffer prematurely, accelerated, and/or exaggerated aging. All people above the age of 18 who were either HIV-positive or HIV-negative between January 2000 and January 2020 were qualified. Read codes were used to determine the presence of outcomes such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus type 2, and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Researchers used age at diagnosis to investigate premature aging and age at exit date to investigate accentuation and acceleration. People with and without HIV were separated out separately according to each outcome of interest if they already had that outcome at baseline. According to their propensity scores, participants were paired with 1 another (1:1 ratio). Both the prevalence trends for age at the exit, and any differences in age at diagnosis between the 2 groups, were reported using linear regression. In total, 8,880 people living with HIV were matched with 8,880 people without HIV and were found to have an earlier onset of CVD (54.5 vs. 56.8; P=0.002). Similarly, hypertension started earlier among HIV-positive individuals (49.7 vs. 51.4; P=0.002). Neither T2DM (53.4 vs. 52.6; P=0.368) nor CKD (57.6 vs. 58.1; P=0.483) were significantly different. Compared to other illnesses, chronic kidney disease (CKD) has become more of a burden over time. Premature aging was indicated by the earlier onset of CVD and hypertension in people with HIV compared to those without HIV and by the greater burden of CKD in this population.
Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hiv.13375
