Research

Multi-Dimensional Successful Aging Among HIV-Infected Adults

Agency: NIH/NIMH
Agency Award Number: R01MH099987

 The life expectancy of adults receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been increasing progressively. By 2015 one-half of HIV+ people in the U.S. will be over age 50, and this number is expected to continue to rise. While there has been a growing interest in aging with HIV, there is a dearth of research on successful aging with HIV. We define successful aging as a multi-dimensional construct with physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domains, with the downstream outcome being self-perceived successful aging. The proposed study will be the first large-scale investigation examining the relationship of positive psychological factors such as resilience, hardiness, optimism, and social engagement along with laboratory-based systemic markers of biological aging and HIV disease severity to the different domains of successful aging in HIV+ individuals as compared to well- matched Non-HIV-infected Comparison subjects (NCs).