HIV-Associated Lymphoma Survival has Not Improved During the Antiretroviral Therapy Era

Extract

Stable survival rates were observed for HIV-associated lymphoma patients during the antiretroviral therapy (ART) era in the US, according to a new study published July 26 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute .

Studies have shown that HIV infection increases the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and that incidence for many lymphoma types has not decreased in the ART era. Furthermore, lymphoma is the most frequent cancer-related cause of death among HIV-infected persons. However, trends in presentation and survival have not been investigated among HIV-associated lymphoma patients in routine care since the beginning of the ART era.

Satish Gopal, M.D., M.P.H., from the Program in Global Oncology at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of North Carolina, and colleagues compared differences in presentation and survival, across histologic subtypes and diagnosis years, among HIV-infected lymphoma patients. They also examined predictors of death in this population. Data from 476 HIV-associated lymphoma patients living in the US who were diagnosed with various types of lymphoma including HL, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), Burkitt lymphoma (BL), primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), and other types of NHL, between 1996 and 2010 were analyzed using various statistical methods.