HIV & Aging

Much remains to be learned about what distinguishes people with HIV (PWH) who are able to achieve viral suppression from those that remain unsuppressed or those who are unable to maintain viral suppression. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with unsuppressed HIV viral load in PWH, and to understand how these factors may differ between those ages 50 and older and 49 and younger. This study was a collaboration between Brookdale and Amida Care, a managed care special needs plan for people with or at-risk for HIV. The study involved a retrospective chart review and data analysis of Amida Care members who were continuously enrolled from 2016 through 2019, four years of the New York State AIDS Institute-funded Ending the Epidemic (ETE) initiative.

Analyses were conducted to examine independent factors that differentiate five viral suppression groups: PWH who were consistently unsuppressed, PWH who became unsuppressed, PWH who were inconsistently suppressed, PWH who achieved sustained viral suppression, and PWH who were consistently virally suppressed. Findings from this project provide a unique and valuable evidence base to inform programmatic efforts in support of New York State’s ETE initiatives to engage people diagnosed with HIV in care, support adherence to ARV treatment, and achieve viral suppression, and can inform similar efforts both nationally and internationally. Dr. Mark Brennan-Ing, director of research and evaluation at Brookdale, and Dr. Jerome Ernst, chief medical officer at Amida Care, were the Principal Investigators on this study funded by the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute.

The final report of this project was provided to the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute in March 2021. Partial findings were presented in a poster at the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting in June 2024.