Sexual relations between seniors living with HIV/AIDS

The article investigates the sexual activity of seniors living with HIV, as well as their domestic and social situation. The sexual activity of HIV-positive seniors is a major concern because the HIV-positive population is rapidly ageing. Being sexually active is assumed to be one dimension of well-being and social integration. More or less closely associated with conjugality, it also provides information on possible caregivers to the HIV-positive older population as and when the need arises. A sample of 125 HIV-positive individuals, monitored by one of the hospitals of the COREVIH Vallée-du-Rhone (one of the donors of the research program), have been questioned, of whom 80 answered a questionnaire and 45 gave in-depth interviews. In total, 80 seniors (50 years or more) were studied and compared to 45 HIV-positives of younger age. Respondents were selected randomly according to their hospital appointments, but the response rate was too low to consider the sample as representative. However, it has been possible to form four sub-groups with distinct features: heterosexual men tend to continue living within their family circle (wife, children, and sometimes grandchildren), but in conflict and without sexual activity. Heterosexual women mostly live on their own, as they did at the time of infection, but they remain on good terms with their children. MSM often live in a harmonious and affectionate, but rarely sexual, seroconcordant relationship formed after the HIV diagnosis. Finally, bisexual men often live on their own, without any sexual activity and in conflict with their children and ex-partners. They turn out to be the most isolated and psychologically fragile sub-group of the survey.