Some people living with HIV as long as those without it.
Just came across an interesting article, which I though would be worth posting here, considering that I do already have a few articles about cover for someone with HIV (like this ).
The article explains how even if you don’t develop full blown AIDS, your body still has prematurally aging cells… due to the aging affected by having a compromised immune system. Also, the HIV medication is also slightly toxic, which also helps with premature aging of your cells.
Back in 1996, with three years of antiretroviral therapy, a 20-year-old male HIV patient in Europe or North America could only be expected to live until his mid 60s; a woman would be expected to live until her late 60s.
But now, the prognosis is much better, to the point where people living with HIV are able to live almost as long as folks without it.
In a review published in The Lancet HIV, researchers from the Antiretroviral Therapy Cohort Collaboration—a group based out of the University of Bristol in England—found that on average, European and North American men and women living with HIV are living to 73 for men and 76 for women, if they began treatment between 2008 and 2010. The average life expectancy in the US is currently 79 years on average, or just under 77 for men and just over 81 for women.
The authors of the research examined 18 different studies done of those living with HIV, in Europe and North America… using factors like how much the virus was present and CD4 blood count. The real difference seems to come from adherence to the treatment regime and from medicines which were less harmful over time.
This obviously means that you would need good access to healthcare and to follow and monitor your disease and condition regularly… with all the associated implications.
An interesting article, you can view it here:
Some people with HIV are starting to live as long as people without it