HIV Clinic Visit Attendance Among People With HIV Aged 50+ Years: Exploring the Role of Increasing Age, Comorbidity Burden, and the COVID ‐19 Pandemic

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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of advancing age, comorbidity burden, and the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV clinic visit attendance. STUDY SETTING AND DESIGN: We implemented a repeated cross-sectional study using an ongoing longitudinal cohort of people with HIV (PWH) receiving care in Washington, DC. DATA SOURCES AND ANALYTIC SAMPLE: Our primary exposures of interest were older age categories (60-69 and 70+ compared with 50-59 years), Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS) Index (surrogate for comorbidity burden), calendar year (with the three time points of 2018, 2020, and 2022 representing pre-, peri- and post-COVID). Our outcome was the number of HIV clinic visits (including telehealth) in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Associations were assessed using zero-inflated negative binomial modeling. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 4041 (72.7% men, 59.3% ages 50-59; 78.8% Black) DC Cohort participants aged 50+ years were included. In 2018, mean VACS indices for participants aged 50-59, 60-69, and 70+ years were 27.5 (standard deviation [SD] 15.8), 36.9 (SD 17.8), and 50.7 (SD 15.5) respectively. Increase in VACS Index was associated with increase in HIV clinic visits (Rate ratio: 1.03, 95% CI 1.01, 1.05). A VACS Index-calendar year interaction term was significant, indicating the relationship between VACS Index and visits was attenuated in the post-COVID time period. All age groups experienced a decrease in visits from 2018 to 2022. HIV RNA suppression remained stable. CONCLUSIONS: These findings underscore the pandemic's impact on accessing healthcare among the most vulnerable, that is, the oldest participants with the most comorbidities. Developing differential care models for PWH to target services to their local context, clinical status, and preferences may point to a broader public health approach to mitigate post-pandemic changes in HIV care utilization.

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