Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Challenges Of Aging With The Hiv Virus And Comorbidities, Rommie Navylia Abele

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Since the introduction of antiretroviral therapy, the survival rate of infected HIV patients has been on the rise with a predicted increase by 2030. The longer a person lives with the virus, the more prone to HIV-associated chronic diseases he or she becomes, but it is not clear whether these diseases are solely from aging with the virus or from long-term use of antiretroviral therapy. Scientists demonstrated that the introduction of antiretroviral therapy led to an increased life expectancy yet early onset of comorbidities; however, they failed to address the challenges that people 50 years old or older face, as …