Summary
Based on data from the Scottish Cancer Registry, the epidemiology of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) in Scotland during the period 1976–96 is described. In males, the annual age-standardized incidence rate (World standard population) increased from less than 0.09 per 100 000 before 1986 to 0.44 in 1991 and then decreased to around 0.17. Peak incidence is now at ages 30–39 compared with ages 80+ during the period 1976–82; and by 1986–96 the standardized incidence ratio for the Health Board which includes Edinburgh had risen to almost four times the national level. These changes are largely consistent with the pattern of HIV infection in Scotland. However, in both sexes, relative to other neoplasms, and in international terms, KS remains rare in Scotland. For patients diagnosed during 1976–92, cumulative observed survival at 5 years was 8.7% at ages 0–49 compared with 49.8% at ages 50–84, reflecting the more aggressive course of AIDS-related KS, as well as the co-morbidity and competing causes of death associated with AIDS.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
Change history
16 November 2011
This paper was modified 12 months after initial publication to switch to Creative Commons licence terms, as noted at publication
References
Allardice, G. M., McMenamin, J. & Goldberg, D. (1996). AIDS indicator diseases in Scotland (to 31st December 1996). ANSWER (AIDS News Supplement to the Weekly Report) AM-30: 1–4.
Beral, V., Bull, D., Jaffe, H., Evans, B., Gill, N., Tillett, H. & Swerdlow, A. J. (1991). Is risk of Kaposi’s sarcoma in AIDS patients in Britain increased if sexual partners came from United States or Africa? BMJ 302: 624–625.
Black, R. J., Sharp, L. & Kendrick, S. W. (1993). Trends in Cancer Survival in Scotland 1968–1990. Information & Statistics Division: Edinburgh
Breslow, N. E. & Day, N. E. (1987). Statistical Methods in Cancer Research. Vol. II – The Design and Analysis of Cohort Studies. IARC Scientific Publication no. 82. International Agency for Research on Cancer: Lyon
Centers for Disease Control (1981). Kaposi’s sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia among homosexual men. New York City and California. MMWR 30: 305–308.
Dore, G. J., Li, Y., Grulich, A. E., Hoy, J. F., Mallal, S. A., Mijch, A. M., French, M. A., Cooper, D. A. & Kaldor, J. M. (1996). Declining incidence and later occurrence of Kaposi’s sarcoma among persons with AIDS in Australia: the Australian AIDS cohort. AIDS 10: 1401–1406.
Franceschi, S., Dal Maso, L., Lo Re, A., Serraino, D. & La Vecchia, C. (1997). Trends of Kaposi’s sarcoma at AIDS diagnosis in Europe and the United States, 1987–94. Br J Cancer 76: 114–117.
Goldberg, D., Davis, B., Allardice, G., McMenamin, J. & Codere, G. (1996). Monitoring the spread of HIV and AIDS in Scotland 1983–1994. Scot Med J 41: 131–138.
Goldberg, D., Allardice, G., McMenamin, J., Codere, G., Raeside, F. & Smyth, W. (1998). Monitoring HIV infection and HIV disease progression in Scotland. Health Bull 56: 645–647.
Grulich, A. E., Beral, V. & Swerdlow, A. J. (1992). Kaposi’s sarcoma in England and Wales before the AIDS epidemic. Br J Cancer 66: 1135–1137.
Harris, V., Sandridge, A. L., Black, R. J., Brewster, D. H. & Gould, A. (1998). Cancer Registration Statistics Scotland 1986–1995. ISD Scotland Publications: Edinburgh
Hermans, P., Lundgren, J., Sommereijns, B., Pedersen, C., Vella, S., Katlama, C., Lüthy, R., Pinching, A. J., Gerstoft, J. & Pehrson, P., Clumeck N for the AIDS in Europe Study Group (1996). Epidemiology of AIDS-related Kaposi’s sarcoma in Europe over 10 years. AIDS 10: 911–917.
Junor, B. J. R. (1996). The need for renal replacement therapy in Scotland. Health Bull 54: 474–485.
Kaplan, E. L. & Meier, P. (1958). Nonparametric estimation from incomplete observations. J Am Stat Assoc 53: 457–481.
Kinlen, L. J. (1982). Immunosuppressive therapy and cancer. Cancer Surv 1: 565–583.
Michaels, S. H., Clark, R. & Kissinger, P. (1998). Declining morbidity and mortality among patients with advanced human immunodeficiency virus infection (letter). New Engl J Med 339: 405–406.
Moore, P. S. & Chang, Y. (1998). Kaposi’s sarcoma, KS-associated herpesvirus, and the criteria for causality in the age of molecular biology. Am J Epidemiol 147: 217–221.
Parkin, D. M., Whelan, S. L., Ferlay, J., Raymond, L. & Young, J. (eds) (1997). Cancer Incidence in Five Continents, Vol VII, pp. 846–847. IARC Scientific Publication no. 143. International Agency for Research on Cancer: Lyon
Registrar General for Scotland (1977–97). Annual Reports 1976–1996, HMSO: Edinburgh
Scottish Centre for Infection Environmental Health (1998). Surveillance report: sexually transmitted infections. Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health Weekly Report 32: 106–107.
Walker, D., Smith, I. M. & Jones, I. G. (1996). Adult heart–lung and lung transplantation in Scotland. Scot Med J 41: 101–103.
Waterhouse, J., Muir, C., Correa, P. & Powell, J. (1976). Cancer Incidence in Five Continents, Vol. III, pp. 454–459. IARC Scientific Publication no. 15. International Agency for Research on Cancer: Lyon
World Health Organization (1976). International Classification of Diseases for Oncology. WHO: Geneva
Young, H., Moyes, A. & Noone, A. (1997). Gonococcal infections in Scotland 1996. Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health Weekly Report 31: 264–268.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
From twelve months after its original publication, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
About this article
Cite this article
Brewster, D., Harris, V., Black, R. et al. Epidemiology of Kaposi’s sarcoma in Scotland, 1976–1996. Br J Cancer 79, 1938–1942 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjc.6690309
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjc.6690309
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Incidence of malignant neoplasms among HIV-infected persons in Scotland
British Journal of Cancer (2003)