Age Hastens A.i.d.s. Development—study (Press, 7 November 1989)
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Summary: Age Hastens A.i.d.s. Development—study (Press, 7 November 1989)
A recent study has revealed that A.I.D.S. may develop more than three times faster in older individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (H.I.V.) compared to adolescents and children. This research, published in the "New England Journal of Medicine," is the largest of its kind to assess the risk of developing A.I.D.S. based on the age at which a person is infected with H.I.V. The findings indicate that A.I.D.S. can take up to a decade to manifest in infected individuals. The study examined 1,219 haemophiliacs, particularly focusing on 319 who developed H.I.V. antibodies at a known point in time. James Goedert, an A.I.D.S. co-ordinator at the National Cancer Institute and director of the study, noted that previous research suggested that gay men, who are significantly affected by the virus, develop A.I.D.S. at comparable rates to haemophiliacs. The results demonstrated that 13.3% of haemophiliacs infected with H.I.V. before age 18 developed A.I.D.S. within eight years. In contrast, 26.8% of those aged 18 to 34 and a staggering 43.7% of individuals aged 35 to 70 developed the disease in the same time frame. The study further indicated that children and adolescents showed a notably lower incidence of A.I.D.S. following the loss of a core H.I.V. protein, which is correlated with A.I.D.S. development in adults. Goedert highlighted the urgent need for careful monitoring of older adults infected with H.I.V. due to their elevated risk of progressing to full-blown A.I.D.S. Although the precise reasons for the faster progression of A.I.D.S. in older adults remain unclear, Goedert theorised that their immune systems might be less capable of responding effectively due to prior exposure to various infections. According to estimates from the United States Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta, between one million and 1.5 million Americans are currently living with H.I.V., with about 50% projected to develop full-blown A.I.D.S. within a ten-year span.
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