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Rise in HIV identified among older adults in China
An increasing number of adults aged at least 50 years are living with HIV/AIDS in China, according to researchers with the National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, Chinese CDC.
Within the study’s time period — 2005 to 2012 — there was an overall increase in the number of people with HIV/AIDS. However, there was a decrease in the number of younger people with HIV/AIDS, the researchers found.
“Expanding coverage of HIV antibody tests in China during recent years can be attributed as a potential explanation for this observed increase in case identification,” the researchers wrote in Clinical Infectious Diseases. “However, the increasing proportion of older adults [with HIV/AIDS] still suggests an increasing epidemic of HIV/AIDS among older adults in China. Such an increasing epidemic among older adults may give rise to an enormous public health challenge in the future.”
The researchers collected data on 73,521 adults older than 50 years with HIV/AIDS who were recorded through the Chinese HIV/AIDS National Case Reporting System from 2005 to 2012. They analyzed trends in the demographic characteristics among the people with HIV/AIDS and also identified clusters among older adults.
Older adults with HIV/AIDS were spread across the country, but 54.4% of the cases were in the Guangxi, Henan and Yunnan provinces. Most of the adults (73.7%) were men and 3.75% were migrants. About half of the patients had AIDS. During the study period, more people were infected through a sexual route, but fewer people were infected via bloodborne transmission or injection drug use.
Within the older adult group, there was a 40.1% decrease in the ratio between resident and migrant cases, but the ratio was higher in the adult group than it was in the younger group. Older adults also were more likely to have AIDS at diagnosis compared with younger adults. When evaluating epidemic clusters, the researchers found that the hotspots were located around the Henan province in the early years of the study, but after 2009, they spread to Guangxi, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, as well as Chongqing municipality.
“Focused attention, development of specialized intervention strategies and implementation of prevention programs targeted towards older adults are some of the urgent requirements in China,” the researchers wrote. “Further research, including analysis of available data to explore the potential correlates of increased prevalence of HIV/AIDS and clustering of infection among older adults, can provide valuable insight into the epidemic of HIV/AIDS in this particular population.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.