Researchers Delve Into HIV-Infected Population’s Aging Risks

published on January 14, 2015 by Shirley S. Wang, in The Wall Street Journal

BANGKOK—Faced with an aging HIV-infected population, international researchers are trying to understand whether the virus or the medications that treat it may accelerate aging.

As the life expectancy of those with HIV has increased dramatically since the 1990s because of better medicine, so too has the risk of other chronic diseases typically associated with age, like diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis and cognitive decline.

In a recent study of HIV-infected and noninfected individuals in Amsterdam aged 45 and older, infected individuals appeared to be more vulnerable to some of these diseases compared with their noninfected counterparts of the same age, raising questions about whether lifestyle factors, the virus or antiretroviral therapies—or all three—might be contributing.

Though it is too early to say for sure, some antiretrovirals have been associated with kidney and other toxicities, and HIV itself could accelerate the aging process since the body is in a state of chronic inflammation, said Peter Reiss, a professor of medicine at the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam, at an annual HIV meeting here Wednesday.

Traditional risk factors, like smoking and body weight, also play a role and should be addressed, he said.

The answer will become more important as the population of HIV-infected individuals continues to grow older. In Amsterdam, the proportion of people with HIV over the age of 50 will grow to 80% in 2040, up from 20% in 2010, according to Dr. Reiss.

“If this is the pattern that will evolve as we go along, this will be a concern for clinicians,” said Dr. Reiss.

The conference, the Bangkok International Symposium on HIV Medicine, which was organized by researchers from Thailand, Australia and the Netherlands in a collaboration that began nearly two decades ago, started on a somber note as attendees memorialized Joep Lange, a noted HIV scientist who helped set up the network, and his partner Jacqueline van Tongeren, who died last year on the Malaysia AirlinesFlight 17 plane crash.

Friends who had known Dr. Lange for decades shared stories about his passion for science, such as the idea that antiretroviral therapies couldn't only treat an individual patient but prevent transmission to others. Unusual for a top-notch scientist, they said, Dr. Lange also was an activist who fought for equitable access to lifesaving medications in low-income countries, a cause that other scientists said wasn’t forgotten.

“His work will continue,” said Julio Montaner, director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in Vancouver. “If anything, his passing has redoubled our commitment and our effort.”

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BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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Researchers Delve Into HIV-Infected Population’s Aging Risks

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