An overlooked part of AIDS epidemic: Older adults
CNN, January 22, 1998
ATLANTA – Adults over 50 may not be
protecting themselves against AIDS because they don't consider themselves
at risk for infection, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said Thursday.
Doctors may be less likely to consider
the possibility of HIV infection among older adults and thus may not be
providing adequate counseling or correctly diagnosing the disease, the CDC
said.
"These are older adults who are
engaging in some risky behaviors because they don't perceive themselves to
be at risk," said Dr. Kimberly Holding of the CDC.
"People in this age group are
worried about their heart, their prostate, their lungs," said Dr.
Jerome Groopman, a Boston doctor who cares for about 10 older AIDS
patients. "They don't think of this. The bottom line is that this
virus does not discriminate."
In 1996, 6,400 AIDS cases were diagnosed
in the United States among people 50 and older, up 22 percent from 5,260
new cases in 1991, the CDC said. AIDS cases for the 13-to-49 age group
rose 9 percent in the same period, from 46,000 cases to 50,300.
The CDC said most older adults who got
AIDS in the early days of the epidemic probably contracted it from a
tainted blood transfusion. Now, more are being infected by unprotected sex
and injecting drugs.
Among older women, the number of new
AIDS cases linked to unprotected sex more than doubled between 1991 and
1996 -- from 340 to 700. In older men, that increase was almost as sharp
-- from 360 to 700.
New cases among older men who inject
drugs jumped 53 percent, from 850 to 1,300. Among older women, the
increase was 75 percent, from 160 to 280.
Diseases that signal an AIDS infection
often mimic the illnesses of aging, Holding said. For example, dementia
associated with HIV could be misread as Alzheimer's disease, and dramatic
weight loss could be mistaken for age-related depression.
That means that when older people are
diagnosed with AIDS, it's more often in the later stages.
In 1996, 13 percent of people 50 and
older died within a month of their AIDS diagnosis, compared with 6 percent
of those between 13 and 49.
"Physicians who are caring for
older people should discuss HIV risk factors with them and look for these
diseases," Holding said. "They need to be included in AIDS
education. You don't see any messages targeted to them."
The Associated
Press contributed to this report.
Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
Terms of Use | Privacy
Policy | Contact Us
|
