HIV life expectancy 'near normal' thanks to new drugs quoting : BBC

Antiretroviral therapy involves a combination of three or more drugs which block the normal progress of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). But many people with HIV still do not live as long as expected, especially those infected through injecting drugs. Image copyright jimmy isaacs Image caption Jimmy Isaacs, 28, can look forward to a long and healthy life on HIV drug treatmentYoung people on the latest HIV drugs now have near-normal life expectancy because of improvements in treatments, a study in The Lancet suggests. This is particularly true in the developing world, where the majority of HIV deaths occur because access to drugs is limited. Twenty-year-olds who started antiretroviral therapy in 2010 are projected to live 10 years longer than those first using it in 1996, it found.




However, Trickey said further efforts are needed if life expectancy is to match that of the general population. But for people infected with HIV through injecting drugs, life expectancy was not seen to increase as much, according to the study. Life expectancy in the UK and Canada was 81 in 2014 and almost 79 in the United States, according to the World Bank. Between 1996 and 2013, the life expectancy for 20-year-olds who started treatment increased by 10 years for women and nine years for men. "Although most people are likely to start treatment soon after diagnosis of HIV, this will only result in improved survival overall if the problems of late diagnosis and treatment access are addressed."

May: HIV life expectancy

However, life expectancy for people with HIV mostly remains lower than that of the general population. Life expectancy of 20-year-olds starting treatment for HIV has increased by around a decade in the EU and North America since the introduction of antiretroviral therapy in the mid-1990s, according to a study published in The Lancet HIV. These increases are among treated individuals, and are in addition to dramatic life expectancy improvements that occurred after the introduction of antiretroviral therapy compared with untreated individuals. However, the improvements were not seen in all people with HIV, with life expectancy of people who were infected through injecting drugs not increasing as much as in other groups. The life expectancy estimates are based on death rates, and there were few data for those in the oldest age group, meaning that death rates in these individuals could not be precisely estimated.


collected by :Lucy William
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