Aging with HIV: A cross-sectional look at comorbidities.

Abstract

Background: People living with HIV (PLHIV) are at increased risk of multimorbidity compared to the general population. The goal of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of non-infectious comorbidities and geriatric syndromes in PLHIV ≥ 50 years old.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted on a cohort of PLHIV regularly followed at an outpatient clinic in a University Hospital in Spain, focusing on PLHIV aged 50 and above. Participants were categorized by age into ten-year intervals. Crude and standardized prevalence of each comorbidity and its trend across age groups were estimated. The prevalence of multimorbidity (≥2 diseases) was also evaluated. All prevalence were estimated with the exact method.

Results: We evaluated 122 PLHIV, of which 25.4% were women and 13% resided in nursing homes. The median time between HIV diagnosis and the last documented visit was 19 (9-29) years. Overall prevalence of multimorbidity was 37% (95% CI 28.4 %-45.6 %), being the most prevalent comorbidities cardiovascular risk factors dyslipidemia (37.7%; 95% CI 29.6 %-46.6 %), hypertension (26.2%; 95% CI: 19.2 %-34.7 %), diabetes mellitus (14.8%; 95% CI: 9.5 %-22.1 %) and non-AIDS defining cancers (15.6%; 95% CI: 10.2 %-23.0 %). The most common geriatric syndromes were fractures/osteoporosis (9.8%; 95% CI: 5.7 %-16.4 %), dementia (8.2%; 95% CI: 4.5-14.4 %) and frailty (8.2%; 95% CI: 4.5-14.4 %). The prevalence of most comorbidities and multimorbidity showed a significantly increasing trend across age groups.

Conclusions: PLHIV who are over 50 years of age have a high prevalence of non-infectious comorbidities and geriatric syndromes. Multimorbidity increases with age in this population group.