According to the study it was found that many senior Americans above 50 years living with HIV/AIDS suffer from moderate to severe depression.
According to the study conducted by Stephen Karpiak, a former research scientist at Columbia University Medical School it was found that many senior Americans above 50 years living with HIV/AIDS suffer from moderate to severe depression.
This study was conducted in New York and1,000 HIV-positive adults over 50 years were questioned. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics showed that more than 1 million people in America are living with HIV/AIDS. This is due to the introduction of anti-retroviral drugs in the late 1990s. These people also suffer from numerous age-related medical conditions such as arthritis, high blood pressure, vision loss and diabetes that are complicated by their already compromised health.The study revealed that HIV-positive adults suffer from depression almost 13 times higher than the general New York population. Karpiak says that the stigma of HIV plays a major role in the higher rates of depression. The author plans to present the study results at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto. He says that by understanding how the HIV-compromised immune system is affected by other age-related conditions could improve the quality of life for many HIV-positive seniors.
