Finely Aged

As the old saying goes, 'With age comes wisdom.' For HIVers, age may provide another key benefit: better responses to antiretroviral treatment. Researches who analyzed the patient records of 562 HIV-positive U.S. military personnel have discovered that those who were older at the time they seroconverted had the best responses to antiretroviral therapy. About 80% of those who were infected while between the ages of 30 and 39 achieved undetectable viral loads within six months of starting treatment, compared to 69% of those infected while between the ages of 18 and 29, they report in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The risk of viral rebound dropped by about 35% for every five-year increase in age above 18, while CD4-cell increases were significantly higher among those who seroconverted at age 30 or older.