Survival After Cancer Diagnosis in a Cohort of HIV-positive Individuals in Latin America

Background: This study aimed to evaluate trends and predictors of survival after cancer diagnosis in persons living with HIV in the Caribbean, Central, and South America network for HIV epidemiology cohort.

Methods: Demographic, cancer, and HIV-related data from HIV-positive adults diagnosed with cancer ≤ 1 year before or any time after HIV diagnosis from January 1, 2000-June 30, 2015 were retrospectively collected. Cancer cases were classified as AIDS-defining cancers (ADC) and non-AIDS-defining cancers (NADC). The association of mortality with cancer- and HIV-related factors was assessed using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards models stratified by clinic site and cancer type.

Results: Among 15,869 patients, 783 had an eligible cancer diagnosis; 82% were male and median age at cancer diagnosis was 39 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 32-47). Patients were from Brazil (36.5%), Argentina (19.9%), Chile (19.7%), Mexico (19.3%), and Honduras (4.6%). A total of 564 ADC and 219 NADC were diagnosed. Patients with NADC had similar survival probabilities as those with ADC at one year (81% vs. 79%) but lower survival at five years (60% vs. 69%). In the adjusted analysis, risk of mortality increased with detectable viral load (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 1.63,  = 0.02), age (aHR = 1.02 per year,  = 0.002) and time between HIV and cancer diagnoses (aHR = 1.03 per year,  = 0.01).

Conclusion: ADC remain the most frequent cancers in the region. Overall mortality was related to detectable viral load and age. Longer-term survival was lower after diagnosis of NADC than for ADC, which may be due to factors unrelated to HIV.