The life expectancy of HIV-infected subjects has improved dramatically since the introduction of highly-active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Considering that patients with HIV infection are living longer, treatment plans should include those for the accompanying co-morbidities such as cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, malignancy, etc. This review discusses the impact of HAART on the epidemiology of survival and co-morbidities (malignancy and cardiovascular diseases) among HIV-infected subjects.

Anxiety disorders Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental disorders in the general population. Anxiety disorders can be viewed as a family of related but distinct mental disorders, which include following as classified in the text revision of fourth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Disorders(DSM-IV-TR): (1) panic disorder with or without agoraphobia; (2) agoraphobia with or without panic disorder; (3) specific phobia; (4) social phobia; (5) obsessive-compulsive disorder; (6) posttraumatic stress disorder; (7) acute stress disorder; (8) generalized anxiety disorder. An acute intense attack of anxiety accompanied by feeling of impending doom is known as panic disorder. The term phobia refer to an excessive fear of a specific object, circumstance, or situation. Obsessivecompulsive disorder is represented by a diverse group of symptoms that include intrusive thoughts, rituals, preoccupations, and compulsions. Posttraumatic stress disorder is a condition marked by development of symptoms after exposure to traumatic life events. Generalized anxiety disorder is defined as excessive anxiety and worry about several events or activities for most days during at least a 6-month period.

Global prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) is known to 5.6 ~ 9.8%. Then life insurance applicants from persons with COPD are frequently encountered, and the underwriter and insurance medical doctors are called on with some regularity to render assessments of the mortality risk associated with COPD. According to previous article which contains long-term follow up of COPD, mortality ratio and excess death rate were 230% and 29 per 1000, respectively. Nowadays molecular genetic methodology such as GWAS has been developed. So it might be possible that molecular diagnostic methods may be one of useful underwriting tools in the life insurance risk selection of COPD applicants.

The measurement of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in screening for prostate cancer is recently performed as a routine check-up in clinical medicine and insurance medicine. Several factors may affect serum PSA levels. As prostate size increases with increasing age, the PSA concentration also rises. Increasing body mass index (BMI) is associated with a lower mean PSA concentration. Inhibitors of 5-alpha-reductase such as finasteride and dutasteride produce a 50 percent or greater decrease in serum PSA during the first three months of therapy, which persists as long as the drug is continued. Men who are regularly taking non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or acetaminophen have lower PSA levels. Emerging concepts regarding PSA testing that may help refine the interpretation of an elevated concentration include: PSA density, PSA velocity, and Free versus complexed or bound PSA. With many insurance companies, PSA level has become part of a standard battery of blood tests, along with HIV, cholesterol, liver enzymes, and other predictors of premature death. But, there is no clear proof of benefit, so we have to monitor the value of PSA test as a prostate cancer screening test in insurance medicine.