A National Survey of Provider's Preparedness to Care for Persons Living With HIV Aged ≥50 Years

With increasing longevity among persons living with HIV (PLWH), HIV providers must manage age-related diseases despite limited geriatric training. We surveyed HIV providers to assess perceived preparedness in caring for aging PLWH and knowledge gaps.

We surveyed HIV providers from October to December 2018 on preparedness (1 = strongly unprepared to 5 = strongly prepared), topics of interest, and participant characteristics including the number of years after training, number of PLWH aged ≥50 years seen/month, degree types (MD/DO versus others), and practice setting (academic versus nonacademic). We grouped "strongly prepared/somewhat prepared" responses as "prepared" and "neutral/somewhat unprepared/strongly unprepared" as "unprepared." The effects of participant characteristics on preparedness were determined using chi-square test.

Of 226 participants, 54% were physicians, 27% were NP/PA, 19% were PharmD, and 40% practiced in academic settings. The average preparedness score was 3.37 out of 5.0. Approximately half of participants (56%) were classified as "prepared." The mode number of years in practice was "10 to <20" (22%); mode number of PLWH aged ≥50 years seen/month was "1 to 25" (50%). HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (73%) and geriatric syndrome screening (63%) were the most chosen areas of interest. Unprepared participants were interested in topics of cardiovascular disease (odds ratio [OR], 2.38; P = .002) and palliative care (OR, 1.92; P = .02). Having >20 years after training increased preparedness ("20 to <30" years versus "none": OR, 3.37; P = .03; "≥30 years" versus "none": OR, 3.66; P = .04).

Approximately half of the surveyed HIV providers felt prepared to care for aging PLWH. HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder, geriatric syndrome screening, cardiovascular diseases, and palliative care were areas of interest. Having >20 years after training increases preparedness.