The risk of cancer in HIV-infected people in South East England: a cohort study

This study used data from the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre's national HIV database and the Thames Cancer Registry to assess the risk of cancer in HIV-infected people in southeast England. Among 26 080 HIV-infected men with 158 660 person-years follow-up, 1851 cancers, and among 7110 HIV-infected women ( 31 098 person-years), 171 cancers were identified. The standardised incidence ratio ( SIR) for all non-AIDS-defining cancers was significantly increased in HIV-infected men (2.8, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.6 - 3.1) but was nonsignificant in HIV-infected women (1.1, 95% CI 0.8 - 1.6). Most of the cancers observed were in men (n = 1559) and women ( n = 127) with AIDS, and among them, the SIR for all non-AIDS-defining cancers was significantly increased in men (8.2, 95% CI 7.2 - 9.2) and women ( 2.8, 95% CI 1.6 - 4.6). The SIR for all non-AIDS-defining cancers was only just significantly increased in men with HIV-infection but not AIDS (1.2, 95% CI 1.0 - 1.5) and was nonsignificant in such women ( 0.8, 95% CI 0.5 - 1.2).