Even in the Age of Information myths and misconceptions
abound about HIV/AIDS prevention and transmission. But, according to UNC
Charlotte Associate Professor of Sociology Diane Zablotsky, the most damaging
response to HIV/AIDS is silence. Silence has contributed to an upsurge of HIV
cases among individuals 50 and older over the course of the epidemic.
Currently, about 19 percent of all people with HIV/AIDS in
the United States are age 50 and older. This number reflects a combination of
people over 50 who have been recently diagnosed with HIV, as well as people who
have been living with the virus for decades since improved treatments are
helping people with HIV live longer.
According to a 2005 Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention report, individuals over 50 remain a relatively small segment of
those at-risk group for sexually transmitted diseases, with four times as many
HIV diagnoses occuring in people ages 25 to 44. However, by the end of 2007,
approximately 131,742 Americans aged 50 and older were diagnosed with AIDS.
But a confluence of conditions has created an environment
for HIV to flourish in a traditionally low-risk, and therefore overlooked,
population.
"Historically when you looked at AIDS diagnoses people 50
and older accounted for 10 percent of all diagnoses," Zablotsky said. Midlife
and older adults have always been present in the epidemic. By 2007, they made
up 12.5 percent of all Americans diagnosed with AIDS.
There are approximately 72 million Baby Boomers (individuals
born between 1946 and 1964) in the United States today. Americans who make it
to age 65 will live longer on average than their counterparts in the
industrialized world, and many will remain sexually active well into their
golden years thanks to pharmaceuticals (think Viagra) and other health
technologies.
Many older Americans come out of lengthy marriages or
relationships and re-enter the dating scene. Some are uneducated about HIV/AIDS
or have antiquated views about the virus. A huge group of the over-50 crowd
never got sexuality education in school.
Evidence suggests women, who can expect to live an average
of five years longer than men, are especially vulnerable. In an analysis of
National Health Interview data, Zablotsky found that almost half of women over
age 50 were totally uninformed about HIV, compared with only 14 percent of
younger adults.
In the early days of the epidemic, Zablotsky explained,
blood transfusion was the primary mode of HIV transmission in older people.
Currently, the primary mode of transmission for both older men and older women
is through sexual activity.
While working at the National Institutes of Aging, Zablotsky
published one of the first papers on the issue.
"When I first started my work, when we were trying to explore
the situation with HIV generally, our first approach was to alert people that
this [HIV/AIDS] was something that people across the life course need to know
about," she said.
Though the health community has made strides in tailoring
education messages, Zablotsky noted, most funding for preventive education in
the last 20 years has targeted traditionally high-risk populations, often
excluding older adults because of assumptions about their behaviors.
Zablotsky said prevention begins with open conversation, as
well as the acknowledgment that humans are sexual beings across the life
course. Labels and stigma associated with sexually transmitted disease remain
barriers to conversation, but Zablotsky said fewer people might tune out
messages that frame sexual health as a lifelong wellness issue.
"What we need to talk about is how you make choices to stay
well," Zablotsky said.
Research conducted by AARP indicates that older patients
feel uneasy discussing sexual behavior with their physicians. Conversely, many
young doctors are uncomfortable talking about risky sexual behavior with people
old enough to be their parents or grandparents.
"One of the things that has been part of the discussion is
how we can ask about risk factors when we do other types of screenings. The big
thing is to keep asking people about their behaviors regardless of age,"
Zablotsky said.
These conversations do not have to take place within the
confines of the doctor-patient relationship. Increasingly, public health
professionals and advocates are encouraging teens and their parents to sit down
and talk to their elders about HIV prevention.
Seventy-two-year-old HIV prevention advocate Jane Fowler
made headlines with just such a suggestion. Fowler, who was diagnosed with HIV
in her 50s, said people need to get over their embarrassment and start talking.
She encourages doctors, friends, kids, grandchildren, and everyone else to
check on the HIV prevention knowledge, motivation and skills of their elders.
Zablotsky concurs. "As a sociologist my goal is make
conversations a part of our everyday activity," she said. "The risk does not
disappear if we fail to discuss it."
Source: Newswise
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Careers
It is worth noting the real numbers. The US CDC predicts that by 2015 half of the entire US HIV/AIDS population will be over 50 and 75% over 40. That is about 1 million people. Annually about 10-15% of new HIV diagnoses occur over age 50. For those older adults living with HIV/AIDS the new challenge is that they are developing many age-related conditions when they are in their 50s and early 60s [cardiac issues, cancers, hypertension, diabetes, osteoporosis and more along with high rates of depression]. This epidemic again presents another serious challenge !
Stephen E Karpiak PhD
AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA)
Center on HIV and Aging
and NYU College of Nursing and the NYU Medical CFAR