MMWR: Needs of Older People Living With HIV Unmet
From POZ.com…
The needs of older people living with HIV are going unmet, and the United States is unlikely to reach five goals for improving quality of life for those ages 50 and older by 2025, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analysis published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Thanks to effective treatment, people with HIV in the United States are living longer, and more than half are now ages 50 and older. Like the general population, HIV-positive people are more prone to comorbidities as they age, and they may face challenges such as cognitive decline, reduced mobility and financial instability. Needs may also change as people transition to Medicare.
The U.S. National HIV/AIDS Strategy has set goals for improving the quality of life of people with HIV by 2025, with indicators for self-rated health, unmet need for mental health services, unemployment, hunger or food insecurity and unstable housing or homelessness. These indicators were adopted in late 2022, leaving less than two years to implement changes.
Linda Beer, PhD, of the CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, and colleagues assessed progress toward these goals specifically for older individuals living with HIV. They analyzed data collected through the CDC’s Medical Monitoring Project, an annual survey of a sample of U.S. adults diagnosed with HIV. Data were obtained from interviews and medical records, and progress was evaluated both overall and by age group. Nearly 13,500 people ages 50 and older participated between 2017 and 2022.