NRC verifies, "With HIV, you can live as long as you do without"

The HIV Association has placed great publicity in the NRC around the major international AIDS conference in Amsterdam last week to correct outdated images (media) on HIV. The first sentence reads: "People living with HIV in the Netherlands nowadays have regular relationships, a family, a career and can live as long as the others." The approach of the HIV succeeds so well that the first part of the statement seems very plausible. But is the life expectancy of people living with HIV now as good as that of people without HIV? We will verify this statement

What is it based on?

On a number of scientific data, according to publications that director Pieter Brokx of the Vih Association sends when asked. The most important basis below is a so-called cohort study in which Dutch citizens living with HIV have been followed for more than 20 years. Nearly 25,000 people are now in the database with very detailed data on their health, drug use and life expectancy. On the basis of these data, a review article in Dutch Journal of Medicine spoke of a "near-normalized life expectancy" last year. In a recent report by the HIV Monitoring Foundation, researchers conclude that the life expectancy of a large group is "the same as that of the entire Dutch population"

and, is it correct?

People living with HIV of the same age can become people without HIV. "This is especially true for people who are treated at an early stage, respond well to medications and healthy living," says researcher Ferdinand Wit, co-author of the annual HIV surveillance report.

This group is important in the Netherlands because more than 90% of people living with HIV are treated with virus inhibitors. These drugs penetrate the virus so deep into the cell that the intruder no longer undermines the immune system and can no longer be transmitted. Thanks to an early diagnosis, most people get the means in time. Spirit: "It's so very good news."

He immediately makes a few comments. For example, a number of people are not tested or tested for HIV, so even today, a significant proportion of people with HIV are diagnosed late and viral inhibitors are only detected when virus has already caused a lot of damage. The latter mainly affects migrants. "And those who take medications on time may have to adapt their lifestyle to age," says Wit. "For example, people living with HIV are on average more likely to smoke, and smoking significantly increases the risk of premature death. But people living with HIV are often very motivated to live healthier lives.

This is also necessary because people living with HIV are more likely to develop, for example, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The side effects of drugs, researchers have thought for a long time, but now they also look at the virus itself as a cause. Even if the most modern virus inhibitors are used, a chronic inflammatory reaction remains, making the body much more sensitive to the harmful effects of smoking, for example

Conclusion

People living with HIV in the Netherlands Low can live as long as others, wrote the HIV Association. This is true for people who are diagnosed quickly, respond well to HIV inhibitors and live in good health. Especially because of the battle for the arm in the formulation – "can" – judge the position as where .

Karel Berkhout

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