My Smart Age With HIV: Smartphone Self-assessment of Frailty

Understanding the complexity of aging and frailty in chronic HIV infection motivated Italian team members to begin to build a frailty index (FI) including 37 health variables at the Modena HIV Metabolic Clinic (MHMC). The validation of FI in HIV patients have been recently published, and more data comparing FI in HIV infected vs un-infected people, have been presented at international meeting and are at present submitted for publication. The research consortium (MHMC, HCC and HHMP) of this study was motivated to begin preliminary work in consideration of the similar multidisciplinary approach in Ageing care and capacity to address health status in ageing HIV patients using shared definitions of co-morbidities, multi-morbidity and measures of Physical Function and Cognition impairment, disability and quality of life. The investigators wanted to overcome the major criticism intrinsic in the FI, that is the needs to collects many variables not easily available in most HIV centres. The the investigators approach is to make patient living with HIV (PLWH), be the source of health variables taking advantage of information and communication technologies available with smart phones and fitness tracking device, collecting physiological parameters and patient related outcomes.