Living Well Beyond 60 With HIV: Early Findings From the 'MasdeSesenta' Quality of Life Study

Background: Individuals over 60 living with HIV (OPLWH) face a form of premature aging driven by multiple biological and clinical factors. This phenomenon increases their vulnerability to frailty, which in turn negatively impacts overall well-being and significantly diminishes quality of life.

Objective: This pilot study aims to assess the impact of a 6-month multidomain intervention on quality of life over a one-year follow-up in prefrail and frail OPLWH.

Materials and methods: This quasi-experimental study included OPLWH attending the Infectious Disease Unit at Hospital Universitario Clínico San Carlos who met at least one FRAIL criterion. After a comprehensive geriatric assessment, frailty according to Fried criteria, physical performance, sarcopenia, and quality of life (WHOQOL-VIH-Bref) were assessed at baseline and at 3 months. A multicomponent intervention (physical exercise, nutritional intervention, and pharmacological optimization), was conducted in prefrail and frail participants. Differences between pre- and post-intervention moments were examined using the independent t-test.

Results: A total of six robust (67.2 ± 6.2 years) and seven pre-frail (72.1 ± 1.8 years) OPLWH were included. At baseline, robust participants reported higher overall perception of quality of life compared to their pre-frail counterparts (3.6±1.5 vs. 2.8±0.4; p=0.006). Following the multicomponent intervention in prefrail individuals, no significant changes were observed in global quality of life or in its specific domains, including physical health, psychological well-being, independence, social relationships, environment, and spirituality.

Conclusions: Prefrail OPLWH have lower quality of life than robust counterparts. However, in this pilot study, a multidomain intervention in prefrail OPLWH does not improve quality of life.