Persons living with diagnosed HIV in New York City: over 50% over 50 years old

ABSTRACT

Using NYC HIV surveillance data, we estimated the annual median age of persons living with diagnosed HIV (PLWDH) and the proportion of PLWDH over 50 years old in NYC between 2008 and 2015, and described the characteristics, retention in care and viral suppression status among PLWDH in NYC in 2015, by age (<50 vs. ≥50 years old). The median age of PLWDH in NYC increased from 46.4 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 39.4, 53.2) in 2008 to 50.2 years (IQR: 39.8, 57.5) in 2015, and the proportion of PLWDH over 50 years old increased from 35.9% in 2008 to 50.6% in 2015. In 2015, by race/ethnicity, whites had the highest proportion over 50 years old (57.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islanders had the lowest (36.2%); by transmission risk, men who have sex with men were the lowest (40.0%) and injection drug users were the highest (76.1%). A large and increasing proportion of PLWDH over 50 years old presents challenges for HIV-infected individuals and healthcare system. Better social support services for HIV-infected individuals and additional training for medical and public health staff are needed.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV
• diagnosis
• demography
• aging

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Drs. Kent Sepkowitz, Bisrat Abraham, Demetre Daskalakis, and James Hadler for their review and comments on this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Qiang Xia http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2493-6001

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported in part by a Cooperative Agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, PS08-80202, #UC62/CCU223595; National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention.