Cancer Incidence in Patients Diagnosed with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Colombia

Abstract

Background: AIDS is associated with a number of malignancies, which in turn carry a high burden of mortality and morbidity in affected patients. This article was developed as an initiative of the High-Cost Diseases Office (CAC in Spanish) to provide the Colombian health system with evidence on the incidence of Cancer in patients diagnosed with AIDS in the country. Methods: The CAC compiled the National Cancer and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) administrative registries, which identify unique patients diagnosed with both Cancer and AIDS from 1983 to 2015. For the 736 cases found, we considered only those diagnosed with Cancer five years before a diagnosis of AIDS and all cases after the diagnosis. A final sample of 238 individuals, with age ranging from 17 to 84 years, diagnosed with AIDS between 1998 and 2015, was analyzed using Stata Software to compute Standardized Incidence Ratio (SIR) of cancers. Results: Results show that patients with AIDS display an elevated risk of developing the following specific types of cancer: Kaposi’s sarcoma’s (male SIR 301.12; female SIR 252.67) Invasive cervical cancer (female SIR 5.09); Non- Hodgkin Lymphoma (male SIR 20.65; female SIR 9.10). The following non-AIDS-defining cancers were also more common in patients with the disease: in men, anal cancer (SIR 51.52), eye and related malignancies (SIR 27.24), and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (SIR 20.96); in women: anal (SIR 24.82); vaginal and vulvar (SIR 10.36); and in situ cervical cancer (SIR 5.83). Conclusion: There is an increased incidence of specific types of cancers in a population of patients diagnosed with AIDS in Colombia, in accordance with data from other regions of the world. The National Cancer and AIDS registries provide local information, which can be used for health care policy planning.