HIV Infection Quickly Speeds Up Aging, Reports New Blockbuster Study
say recent results from a study show HIV quickly impacts a person's DNA and accelerates biological changes similar to the natural aging process, including death. "The findings suggest that new HIV infection may rapidly cut nearly five years off an individual’s life span relative to an uninfected person," a UCLA press release states.The disease's maturing effect on cells happens within two to three years of HIV infection, according the university researchers.
Some of the results of the accelerated aging process can manifest in heart and kidney disease, frailty, and cognitive difficulties.It's not clear how antiretroviral regimens may affect the aging process caused by HIV, but previous studies have shown it happens regardless of medications — and that the powerful medicines that keep HIV at bay may also contribute to accelerated aging.UCLA researchers initially studied 102 men, collecting blood samples six months or less before they became infected with HIV and again two to three years after infection.
These samples were compared with matching samples from 102 non-infected men of the same age taken over the same time period.
