June 5th marks Long-Term Survivors Day—a day to honor individuals who have lived with HIV for many years, defying the odds and proving resilience, strength, and hope. In recognition of this important day, we are thrilled to share part two of this episode featuring amazing long-term survivors. Their stories remind us of how far we’ve come (and how far we need to keep going) in the fight against HIV and inspire us to keep moving forward. Tune in to hear their journeys, challenges, and victories. This is part two of a two part discussion.
Sources:
https://nastad.org/savehivfunding
https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/living-well-with-hiv/taking-care-of-yourself/aging-with-hiv#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20latest%20data,the%20RWHAP%20and%20older%20adults
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/28/1166404485/weathering-arline-geronimus-poverty-racism-stress-health
https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/living-well-with-hiv/taking-care-of-yourself/aging-with-hiv
Late HIV Diagnosis Among Older Adults with HIV
Older Americans are more likely than younger Americans to be diagnosed with HIV late in the course of their disease, meaning they get a late start receiving the benefits of HIV treatment and possibly incur more damage to their immune system. This can lead to poorer prognoses and shorter survival after an HIV diagnosis. Late diagnoses can occur because health care providers may not always test older people for HIV infection, and older people may mistake HIV symptoms for signs of normal aging and don’t consider HIV as a possible cause they should discuss with their provider.
According to a 2024 report from CDC, 33% of people aged 55 and older in the United States* who received a diagnosis in 2022, already had late-stage HIV infection (AIDS) when they were diagnosed (i.e., they received a diagnosis later in the course of their disease).
01:28:14:02 Study in the 90s mentioned. I’d love to source this.
I read it in the 1990's and cited it in an article I wrote but it looks like the original citation is from 1987.
Solomon, G. F., Temoshok, L., O’Leary, A., & Zich, J. (1987). An intensive psychoimmunologic study of long-surviving persons with AIDS: Pilot work, background studies, hypotheses, and methods. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 496(1), 647–655.
https://www.thebody.com/article/eight-characteristics-long-term-survivors-hiv-aids
https://data.unaids.org/pub/externaldocument/2007/gipa1983denverprinciples_en.pdf
