GOOD NEWS: Being HIV Positive Is No Longer A Death Sentence

Being HIV positive is no longer the death sentence it once was, as life expectancy of those receiving treatment is approaching that of the general population.
Researchers found a 20-year-old HIV-positive adult on antiretroviral therapy (ART) may be expected to live into their early 70s - a life expectancy approaching that of the general U.S. population.
However, life expectancy is lower for people with a history of injecting drugs as well as those who are not white.

 

The life expectancies of nearly 23,000 individuals on ART - which consists of the combination of at least three antiretroviral drugs to best suppress the HIV virus and stop the progression of HIV disease - were calculated based on mortality rates in the early to mid-2000s.

Participants in the study, by the North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design and the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, were aged 20 years or older.
Changes in life expectancy from 2000 to 2007 among HIV-positive individuals were evaluated by selected sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, such as drug use history and immune cell counts.
The study, which was published in the journal PLOS ONE, found that life expectancy at age 20 increased from 36.1 to 51.4 years from 2000-2002 to 2006-2007.
Men and women had comparable life expectancies in all periods except the last 2006 to 2007 period.
Life expectancy was lower for individuals with a history of injection drug use, those who were non-white, and those who initiated ART with low CD4 count - a count of cells that activate the immune response - compared to those who started at a higher count.
The results of this study suggest increasing longevity for individuals living with HIV in the U.S. and Canada and contribute to the growing evidence that HIV-positive people on ART have life expectancies approaching those in general populations.