A 20-year-old HIV-positive adult on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the U.S. or Canada may be expected to live into their early 70's, a life expectancy approaching that of the general population, according to results published December 18, 2013, in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Hasina Samji and colleagues from the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) and the North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design (NA-ACCORD).
The life expectancies of nearly 23,000 individuals on ART were calculated based on mortality rates in the early to mid-2000s. Participants in the study were from the NA-ACCORD and aged 20 years or older. Changes in life expectancy from 2000 to 2007 among HIV-positive individuals were then evaluated by selected sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, such as drug use history and immune cell counts
The authors 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 (2006-2007). 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 indicate 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.
Citation: Samji H, Cescon A, Hogg RS, Modur SP, Althoff KN, et al. (2013) Closing the Gap: Increases in Life Expectancy among Treated HIV-Positive Individuals in the United States and Canada. PLoS ONE 8(12): e81355. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0081355
Financial Disclosure: This work was supported by grants U01-AI069918, U10-AA13566, U01-AI31834, U01-AI34989, U01-AI34993, U01-AI34994, U01-AI35004, U01-AI35039, U01-AI35040, U01-AI35041, U01-AI35042, U01-AI35043, U01-AI37613, U01-AI37984, U01-AI38855, U01-AI38858, U01-AI42590, U01-AI68634, U01-AI68636, U01-HD32632, U10-EY08057, U10-EY08052, U10-EY08067, UL1-RR024131, UL1-RR024131, M01-RR-00052, M01-RR00071, M01-RR00079, M01-RR00083, M01-RR00722, M01-RR025747, P30-AI27757, P30-AI27767, P30-AI27763, P30-AI50410, P30-AI54999, R01-DA04334, R01-DA12568, R01-DA11602, R01-AA16893, R24-AI067039, Z01-CP010176, AHQ290-01-0012, N02-CP55504, AI-69432, AI-69434, K01-AI071725, K23-AI610320, K23-EY013707, K24-DA00432, K24 AI65298 and K01-AI093197 from the National Institutes of Health; contract 290-01-0012 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; contract CDC200-2006-18797 from the CDC; grants TGF-96118, HCP-97105, CBR-86906, CBR-94036, KRS-86251, and 169621 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research; the Canadian HIV Trials Network, project 24; and the government of British Columbia. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing Interest Statement: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
PLEASE LINK TO THE SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT (URL goes live after the embargo ends): http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0081355
Disclaimer: This press release refers to upcoming articles in PLOS ONE. The releases have been provided by the article authors and/or journal staff. Any opinions expressed in these are the personal views of the contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLOS. PLOS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the release and article and your use of such information.
About PLOS ONE: PLOS ONE is the first journal of primary research from all areas of science to employ a combination of peer review and post-publication rating and commenting, to maximize the impact of every report it publishes. PLOS ONE is published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS), the open-access publisher whose goal is to make the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource.
All works published in PLOS ONE are Open Access. Everything is immediately available—to read, download, redistribute, include in databases and otherwise use—without cost to anyone, anywhere, subject only to the condition that the original authors and source are properly attributed. For more information about PLOS ONE relevant to journalists, bloggers and press officers, including details of our press release process and our embargo policy, see the everyONE blog at http://everyone.plos.org/media.
Journal
PLOS ONE