HIV screens cost-effective in older adults

DURHAM, N.C., June 17 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers suggest screening most adults ages 55 to 75 for human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, since many seniors are sexually active.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., say seniors may be overlooked as possible carriers of the AIDS virus and are recommending screening for most adults ages 55 to 75 as a sensible, cost-effective way to prolong life and decrease the spread of the disease.

"Many of us might think of HIV as associated with teens and younger adults, but statistics show that 19 percent of those infected were diagnosed at age 50 or older," lead author Gillian Sanders said in a statement.

Sanders worked with colleagues at Stanford University, the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of HIV screening among older patients.

The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that assuming 0.5 percent of the study population was HIV-positive, the researchers found that HIV screening for patients age 65 who were not sexually active would cost $55,440 per quality-adjusted life-years gained, while screening for sexually-active 65-year-olds would cost $30,020 per quality-adjusted life-years. Sanders says such figures are within the range of other accepted cost-effective ratios.