According to a new study, people infected with HIV are at a much higher risk for many cancers, especially anal cancer. The study focused on trends from 1992 to 2003 and involved 54,780 HIV-positive men and women.
"The study was done because we all know that now people with HIV are living longer, and HIV is looking more like a chronic disease. So we wanted to look at one of the other very large chronic killers in America, cancer," said Dr. Pragna Patel, a CDC researcher who led the study.
By 2003, anal cancer had become 59 times more common among HIV-infected individuals than the general population. In addition, Hodgkin's disease was 18 times more common, liver cancer seven times more common, lung cancer 3.6 times more common, the skin cancer melanoma and throat cancer both three times more common, and colorectal cancer 2.4 times more common.
According to Patel, "Most significant was the finding of anal cancer being so elevated even in the HAART [highly active antiretroviral therapy] era." She said multiple factors may be involved, but the increased risk may be linked to the spread of human papillomavirus through anal sex between men. HPV is known to cause anal cancer.
Patel added that doctors who care for HIV-infected people should be aware of this increased risk for a range of cancer types, and consider screening. The study is the largest analysis of cancer trends among HIV-infected people in the United States ever done, she noted.
Some cancers such as Kaposi's sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma have long been associated with HIV infection. The study showed that these two types of cancer became relatively less common among this group.
The study also found that HIV-infected people had a small reduced risk for prostate cancer. The researchers said this may have occurred because HIV-infected men are more likely to have lower testosterone levels, which could be protective against prostate cancer.
The study, "Incidence of Types of Cancer Among HIV-Infected Persons Compared with the General Population in the United States, 1992-2003," was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (2008;148(10):728-736).
05/21/08
UNITED STATES: Cancer Risk Soars in HIV-Infected People: Study
Source: Reuters:: Will Dunham; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention