Strategies adopted by late middle-age and older adults with HIV/AIDS to explain their physical symptoms

Association between HIV duration and symptom distress among middle-aged and elderly people with HIV-infected in China: a cross-sectional study

Background

Debate has persisted regarding whether PLWH with longer HIV durations have lower levels of prevalence and severity of symptoms compared with their newly diagnosed counterparts. Whether and how the HIV duration impact the symptom distress among middle-aged and older PLWH has not been explored clearly.

Methods

The patients with HIV-infected aged more than 40 years old were included from seven designated medical institutions of seven regions in China. Outcome was the score of symptom distress. We used the multiple regression model to calculate adjusted Coefficient of Regression (β) with 95% CI in this study.

Results

Among 210 participants (mean age 50.8 years; 71.0% male; 68.1% at asymptomatic stage) in the study, the median number of symptoms was 5. Of all symptoms reported, the most distressed symptoms were sleep disturbance (33.33%), followed by memory loss (31.90%), fatigue (26.67%), slow reactions (22.86%), and vision blur (21.90%). All participants were divided into four groups according to HIV duration, and the median of total score of symptom ditress among all participants was 0.1(0.0,0.9). Difference of total scores and clusters’ scores of symptom distress among four HIV duration groups were statistically significant. 51 participants with 6–10 years HIV duration were more likely to be higher level of education, at asymptomatic stage and have higher CD4 + T cell count. After adjustment for gender, age, race, education, marital status, employment, family income, region, stage of disease and CD4 + T cell count, the score of symptom distress among participants with 6–10 years HIV duration had was higher with the extension of HIV duration. Specially in physical symptoms and psychological symptoms,participants with 6–10 years HIV duration reported the persisting worse burdensome.

Conclusions

HIV duration with 6–10 yearsmay be a key period that the medical team needs to pay special attention to among middle-aged and elderly PLWH. There is a need to provide medical and psychosocial services targeting middle-aged and elderly PLWH according to their changing symptom distress.

Trial registration

Clinicaltrials.gov: ChiCTR2100046225. Registered 11 May 2021.

Physical and mental health in HIV-infected patients with virological success and long-term exposure to antiretroviral therapy

In people living with HIV (PLWH), a decade-long antiretroviral therapy (ART) poses new challenges regarding physical and mental health. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to investigate the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in adult HIV-infected patients with viral suppression and an ART exposure for at least 5 years in three German HIV centers. Patients were evaluated by the ACTG Augmented Symptoms Distress Module (ASDM) and the SF-12 Health Survey. Among 894 patients, symptom-related distress was highly prevalent. The most common symptoms were fatigue, insomnia, sadness and depression, sexual dysfunction, and changes in body appearance. In the multivariate analysis, ART duration, age and depression were significantly associated with a higher overall symptom summary score. Self-reported mean SF-12 scores were lower for mental health and younger patients compared to the standard random sample of a healthy German population. Depression and occupational status were significantly related to a lower physical component summary score, by contrast older age was associated with higher scores in the mental component summary, implying more favorable mental health status. In this large group of PLWH, the degree of symptom-related distress was high. Mental and physical health should be considered an integral part of ongoing HIV care.

Sexuality and Intimacy in the Older Adult Woman

In the United States, people older than 65 attend approximately 248 million health care visits each year, or 7 visits per older adult annually. One in every 5 older adults reports recent sexual activity, yet health care professionals do not ask, and patients do not tell when it comes to sexuality. The desire to engage in sex and intimate behaviors to meet important quality-of-life needs is present in people of all ages. Because it is important to communicate in a nonjudgmental manner, health care professionals must first examine their own personal attitudes and values regarding sexuality in older women.

Too old to test? Prevalence and correlates of HIV testing among sexually active older adults

Older adults account for 17% of new HIV diagnoses in the US and are more likely to be diagnosed with HIV later in the course of the disease compared to younger people. We calculated the prevalence and associated factors of having ever been tested for HIV among sexually active older adults. We analyzed data from the 2008-2016 General Social Survey Limited to respondents ≥65 years of age who reported more than one sex partner(s) in past 12 months (n = 757). HIV testing prevalence, prevalence ratios, and 95% confidence intervals were calculated by demographic variables and HIV-related risk behaviors. An estimated 16.3% of sexually active older adults have tested for HIV, and 15.9% were at increased risk for HIV infection (reported injection drug and/or crack-cocaine use, exchanging money for sex, more than three sex partners in the past year, or men who reported having sex with another man). In the adjusted model, adults aged 65-70, not married, self-identified as gay/bisexual, and at increased risk for HIV infection were more likely to have tested for HIV. An estimated 83.7% of sexually active older adults never tested for HIV. Strategies are needed to increase HIV awareness and testing among potentially high-risk older adults.

Age, time living with diagnosed HIV infection, and self-rated health

OBJECTIVES

An increasing proportion of people living with HIV are older adults, who may require specialized care. Adverse physical and psychological effects of HIV infection may be greatest among older people or those who have lived longer with HIV.

METHODS

The ASTRA study is a cross-sectional questionnaire study of 3258 HIV-diagnosed adults (2248 men who have sex with men, 373 heterosexual men and 637 women) recruited from UK clinics in 2011-2012. Associations of age group with physical symptom distress (significant distress for at least one of 26 symptoms), depression and anxiety symptoms (scores ≥ 10 on PHQ-9 and GAD-7, respectively), and health-related functional problems (problems on at least one of three domains of the Euroqol 5D-3L)) were assessed, adjusting for time with diagnosed HIV infection, gender/sexual orientation and ethnicity.

RESULTS

The age distribution of participants was: < 30 years, 5%; 30-39 years, 23%; 40-49 years, 43%; 50-59 years, 22%; and ≥ 60 years, 7%. Overall prevalences were: physical symptom distress, 56%; depression symptoms, 27%; anxiety symptoms, 22%; functional problems, 38%. No trend was found in the prevalence of physical symptom distress with age [adjusted odds ratio (OR) for trend across age groups, 0.96; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.89, 1.04; P = 0.36]. The prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms decreased with age [adjusted OR 0.86 (95% CI 0.79, 0.94; P = 0.001) and adjusted OR 0.85 (95% CI 0.77, 0.94; P = 0.001), respectively], while that of functional problems increased (adjusted OR 1.28; 95% CI 1.17, 1.39; P < 0.001). In contrast, a longer time with diagnosed HIV infection was strongly and independently associated with a higher prevalence of symptom distress, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and functional problems (P < 0.001 for trends, adjusted analysis).

CONCLUSIONS

Among people living with HIV, although health-related functional problems were more common with older age, physical symptom distress was not, and mental health was more favourable. These results suggest that a longer time with diagnosed HIV infection, rather than age, is the dominating factor contributing to psychological morbidity and lower quality of life.