Life expectancy of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH) has increased due to the advances in antiretroviral therapy (ART), but many develop functional impairments requiring medical rehabilitation. Additionally, racial/ethnic healthcare disparities exist, but less research has focused on older PLWH in Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRFs) in the United States. A retrospective cohort study using the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation examined whether racial/ethnic disparities exist in functional status at the time of admission and discharge of PLWH over the age of 50 at IRF (n = 10,354). Significant differences occurred in functional status at admission between White and Black patients (p < .001), and White and Hispanic patients (p = .000). White patients had the highest achievement of discharge FIM (80.6% meeting the goal), with the lowest among Asian (64.1%) and Black (75.5%) patients. Disparities in health outcomes emphasize the need to identify the unique needs of aging racial/ethnic BIPOC groups with HIV/AIDS in IRFs to diminish such inequities.
DiVita et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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