1. ¹Department of Primary Care and General Practice, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
2. ²CDSC HIV & STI Division, Health Protection Agency, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, Colindale, London NW9 5EQ, UK
3. ³Thames Cancer Registry, Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine, 1st Floor, Capital House, 42 Weston Street, London SE1 3QD, UK

Correspondence: Dr A Newnham, E-mail: a.v.newnham@bham.ac.uk

Received 15 July 2004; Revised 13 October 2004; Accepted 27 October 2004; Published online 7 December 2004.

Abstract

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).