Aging with HIV: a cross-sectional look at comorbidities

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.

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.

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.

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.