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UK study shows how better HIV drugs extend lives
Source: Agencies |
October 12, 2011, Wednesday
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Online Edition
Online Edition
LIFE expectancy for people in Britain who have HIV rose by 15 years between 1996 and 2008, thanks largely earlier diagnosis and treatment with better, less toxic drugs, scientists said yesterday.
While life expectancy for HIV patients is still lower than in the general population, dramatic progress in reducing side effects from drugs, offering them as combination therapies and starting treatment earlier have helped turn HIV into a chronic disease with a good prognosis, the researchers said.
In a study published in the British Medical Journal, the researchers added that the average lifespan of HIV positive patients should increase further with guidelines recommending they start treatment even earlier with modern, improved drugs.
"These results are very reassuring news for current patients and will be used to counsel those recently found to be HIV-positive," said Mark Gompels of Britain's North Bristol NHS Trust, who co-led the study.
Around 34 million people globally have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, and the vast majority of them live in sub-Saharan Africa.
Access to screening, diagnosis and early treatment with HIV drugs is limited in many poorer nations, but in wealthy countries like Britain their availability has made a big difference to many patients' lives.
Gompels worked with Margaret May of Bristol University and used data from the UK Collaborative HIV Cohort study, which in 2001 began collating routine data on HIV positive people who had been attending some of Britain's largest clinics since January 1996.
While life expectancy for HIV patients is still lower than in the general population, dramatic progress in reducing side effects from drugs, offering them as combination therapies and starting treatment earlier have helped turn HIV into a chronic disease with a good prognosis, the researchers said.
In a study published in the British Medical Journal, the researchers added that the average lifespan of HIV positive patients should increase further with guidelines recommending they start treatment even earlier with modern, improved drugs.
"These results are very reassuring news for current patients and will be used to counsel those recently found to be HIV-positive," said Mark Gompels of Britain's North Bristol NHS Trust, who co-led the study.
Around 34 million people globally have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, and the vast majority of them live in sub-Saharan Africa.
Access to screening, diagnosis and early treatment with HIV drugs is limited in many poorer nations, but in wealthy countries like Britain their availability has made a big difference to many patients' lives.
Gompels worked with Margaret May of Bristol University and used data from the UK Collaborative HIV Cohort study, which in 2001 began collating routine data on HIV positive people who had been attending some of Britain's largest clinics since January 1996.
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