Multimorbidity and Polypharmacy in People With HIV vs. the General Population in the Basque Country

Plain-language summary

People living with HIV now have a life expectancy similar to that of the general population, thanks to major advances in antiretroviral treatment. As they live longer, many of them experience multiple health conditions at the same time and take several medications, often more than people without HIV. In our region, 6,273 people are currently receiving antiretroviral therapy. However, the new care pathway designed for patients with multiple chronic conditions in the Basque Country's public health system does not include people with HIV. At the same time, we lack local data on how common multimorbidity, polypharmacy, and potentially inappropriate prescribing are among this group. These gaps motivated our study. Our goal is to estimate how frequent these issues are among all people with HIV who receive care in the infectious disease departments of the hospitals in Araba, Basurto, Galdakao, Cruces, and Donostia, and to compare them with a similar group of people without HIV. To do this, we designed a cross-sectional study including the 6,273 people with HIV and a control group from the general population, selected to match them by age, sex, and health centre. By analysing data from electronic health records, we aim to determine whether people with HIV have higher rates of multimorbidity, polypharmacy, and inappropriate prescribing than the general population. The findings from both groups will help us update the care pathway and improve coordinated care for HIV-positive patients with multiple health conditions.

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