What’s new: China’s population of seniors living with HIV more than doubled from 2015 to 2019 and had a higher rate of new diagnoses than in the U.S. or Europe, a recent study showed.
The number of people 60 or older with newly reported HIV infections shot up to 37,275 from 17,451 over those five years, according to a study published in the Chinese Journal of Epidemiology on Nov. 17. While that number fell over the next three years, it remained elevated at just over 27,000 last year.
The rate of newly diagnosed HIV infections has followed a similar trajectory. It was nine per 100,000 people in 2015, peaking at 15.1 in 2019 before falling back to 10.2 in 2022, the study showed.
The drop in both figures after 2019 may have been caused by “a decline in active HIV testing efforts,” the study said, without elaborating.
What’s more: The study showed a higher rate of new HIV diagnoses among older adults in China than in the U.S. and Europe. For example, the diagnosis rate for people aged 60 to 64 in the U.S. was 5.4 per 100,000 in 2019.
The study attributed the higher rate in China to weaker awareness and higher-risk sexual behavior by some older people, among other reasons. It called for better surveillance and testing efforts.
Among the more than 220,000 seniors newly identified with HIV between 2015 and 2022, the study said, men outnumbered women by more than 3:1. They were also less educated and primarily made their living off farming.
Contact reporter Wang Xintong (xintongwang@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
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