A master class by a professor from the USA

November 7, 2022

Professor of the State University of New York (SUNY) Deborah Gustavson, PhD, held a master class for physicians of the Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS in Almaty on November 7.

The topic "HIV and aging" is one of the most relevant today. Among the factors associated with aging, such as fragility, the presence of risks of cardiovascular diseases are studied, the state of mental health, bone tissue, thinking processes and much more are assessed. Scientists state that the widespread introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has led to drastic positive changes in the lives of people living with HIV all over the world. Thanks to ART, the quality and duration of their life have increased. Active studies on aging-related changes in the body of PLHIV are conducted in different countries, including the USA. Deborah Gustavson presented their results to the doctors of the AIDS Center.

The scientist noted that aging is a multifactorial process. It is also affected by human behavior, including smoking, alcohol abuse, overeating and, as a result, overweight, sedentary lifestyle.

Negative factors affecting people living with HIV are the presence of depression, anxiety, stress, stigma and discrimination.

The professor spoke about a large-scale study that has been conducted in the USA for 25 years. The focus is on the health risks of women living with HIV. One of them is the appearance of symptoms of senile frailty. The results of the study demonstrated that if 17% of women had these symptoms before the widespread spread of ART among the community, then after the widespread spread of ART and adherence to this therapy, the risk decreased and reached that in women without infection. Risk factors were the same for all women, regardless of HIV status: age, social status, obesity, tuberculosis, but not HIV infection.

The participants were interested in the issues of prescribing certain medications, especially for pregnant women, as well as the impact of non-communicable chronic diseases on the health of patients over 40 years of age.

The master class was held within the framework of the project, which, with the participation of doctors of the AIDS Center in Almaty, in partnership with the program of the University of New York, has been implemented since 2016 by the Kazakh National Medical University named after S. D. Asfendiyarov in the person of teaching staff and doctoral students of the course "HIV infection". The focus of the project for the coming years is the study of cardiovascular diseases and cognitive abilities in people living with HIV over the age of 40.

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