Dr Tom Levett and Dr Naomi Sutton shift the conversation on ageing with HIV, urging a move away from 'frailty' towards a proactive, healthy ageing model. They address misconceptions about "normal ageing"; ways to identify and mitigate against functional decline early in patients; the limitations of FRAX scores; and provide guidance on managing multi-morbidities and polypharmacy - all the while reminding listeners that older adults are still sexual beings.

"Falls are embarrassing, continence is embarrassing, saying you're struggling to get yourself washed and dressed is embarrassing. It’s just allowing a space to say ‘Do you know, actually since I saw you I'm falling over pretty much once a month and I don’t know what’s happening to me.’ 

In the clinic, I don’t do a lot of clever medicine. I stop a lot of tablets, I listen to people, and I reassure a lot of people that what they’re experiencing is wholly normal."

Dr Tom Levett is a Senior Lecturer in Medicine and Frailty at Brighton and Sussex Medical School and an Honorary Consultant in Geriatric Medicine at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. He is the co-lead of the HIV-ageing Silver Clinic in Brighton, which takes a proactive approach to screening for frailty and reviewing patients with age-related issues with mobility, falls, multi-morbidity and complex polypharmacy - work that has been informed by Dr Levett's doctoral investigation of the prevalence and predictors of frailty in older adults living with HIV.

Follow more of his work and advice on Twitter @DrTomLevett

UK-UNB-2650

Jan 2024

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