Improvements in medicine have increased life expectancy amongst HIV patients.

HIV patients are now living an average of 13 years longer compared to the 1990s thanks to improvements in medicine, a new study has revealed.

According to research by the University of Bristol published in an HIV Special Issue of The Lancet today (25 July), mortality rates have also dropped 40%.

Life expectancy is highest in wealthy countries where patients have access to improved combination antiretroval therapy (cART). However, it is still shorter than the general population – a patient starting cART at the age 20 could expect to live another 43 years, compared with an average of 60 years.

The study compared life expectancy amongst patients taking the drugs in high income countries during three time periods – 1996-1999, 2000-2002 and 2003-2005. Over 43,000 patients were involved in the research.

It discovered that patients aged 20 diagnosed with HIV in the 1990s could expect to live another 36 years, compared with 49 years by 2003-2005 – an increase of 13 years.

Other findings included the fact that women were found to have a slightly longer life expectancy than men – 44.2 years against 42.8 years. Those presumed to have transmitted HIV through injection also had a lower expectancy of 32.6 years compared with 44.7 years.

Professor Sterne of Bristol University’s Department of Social Medicine commented on the results: “These advances have transformed HIV from being a fatal disease, which was the reality for patients before the advent of combination treatment, into a long-term chronic condition.

“The results of this study indicate that people living with HIV in high-income countries can expect increasing positive health outcomes on cART. The marked increase in life expectancy since 1996 is a testament to the gradual improvement and overall success of such treatment.”

For more information, visit www.thelancet.com

By Natasha Piscitelli