HIV Patients Live Longer

HIV patients who use antiretroviral therapy are living more 13 years longer than they did in 1996. The death rate has dropped by 40 percent. A meta study done by the British Colombia Center for Excellence found that the sooner someone starts treatment the more likely they are to live longer. Generally, women with HIV have longer life expectancies than men. The study also found that mortality decreased from 16.3 deaths per 1,000 person-years in 1996 to 1999 to 10 deaths per 1,000 person-years in 2003 to 2005.

Many doctors feel that the advances in antiretroviral treatment have made HIV a chronic illness rather than a death sentence.

(Originally reported by The Washington Post.)