Life expectancy of women with HIV in B.C. hasn't increased as much as men's: new research

Michelle Gomez · CBC News

· Posted: May 31, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

While British Columbians surviving with HIV are surviving overmuch longer than a fewer decades ago, the beingness expectancy for women isn't increasing astatine the aforesaid complaint arsenic men's, according to a caller survey by the B.C. Centre for Excellence successful HIV/AIDS.

Data gathered betwixt 1996 to 2001 and 2012 to 2020 shows that successful B.C., men's beingness expectancy rose from 44 to 68 years old, portion the beingness expectancy for women lone roseate from 42 to 61 years old. 

B.C.'s healthcare strategy began providing free, highly effectual antiretroviral therapy to radical surviving with HIV 1996 which, arsenic the authors note, increased beingness expectancy substantially. 

Researchers had expected the life expectancy spread betwixt men and women to constrictive implicit time, but were amazed to find the spread widened. 

"The beingness expectancy spread betwixt men and women surviving with HIV should beryllium narrowing, not getting worse," said the study's pb writer Katherine W. Kooij successful a release. 

They noted that this differs from what is observed successful the wide colonisation globally, wherever women with HIV thin to unrecorded longer than men. 

"We fishy that this discrepancy is driven by an unequal load connected women owed to adverse socio-structural factors including barriers to accessing healthcare, unemployment, poverty, unstable housing, stigma, and discrimination," it said. 

In the colonisation studied, women much often lived successful little wealthy neighborhoods and much often reported injection drugs arsenic a transmission hazard factor. In addition, women with HIV much often had substance usage disorders than men with HIV. 

Scott Elliott, CEO of the Dr. Peter Centre, which serves radical surviving with HIV successful Vancouver, said the enactment has been moving to fortify its programs for women. 

He said that, based connected his experience, it is harder to pull and support women successful attraction programs than it is men, due to the fact that women are often caregivers themselves.

"They're taking attraction of others. Many of them person kids and families," helium said. "And truthful they often don't travel into care… until it's very, precise advanced." 

Elliott said that because men marque up the bulk of the colonisation of radical surviving with HIV, galore of the enactment programs in Vancouver and crossed the state are designed for men, oregon are overrun by men. 

"We get a batch of absorption oregon a batch of shame and a batch of fearfulness astir women coming into services," said Elliott, adding the Dr. Peter Centre has introduced women's lone programming to effort to mitigate this. 

He said the cardinal to helping women with HIV is ensuring they person entree to attraction that works for them. What has worked for the Dr. Peter Centre is to person a semipermanent narration with the patient. 

"It's a analyzable illness," helium said. 

"If they're going to a doctor's bureau and person to hold 2 hours, it's not gonna work... If there's different aspects similar food, housing, entree to medicine that isn't looked after, it's not gonna work." 

The survey recommends women with HIV beryllium provided with amended supports, including low-barrier care, amended lodging and assemblage connection.