POZ news story<\/p>\n
Cancer remains an important comorbidity among people living with HIV worldwide, but risk varies according to demographic and behavioral factors, according to an analysis from the REPRIEVE trial published in the journal AIDS<\/a>. People with HIV had higher rates of both infection-related malignancies and those not associated with infections, but AIDS-defining cancers were uncommon.<\/p>\n \u201cTargeted prevention strategies, particularly smoking cessation and age- and region-specific cancer screening approaches, may help reduce cancer burden in this population,\u201d the study authors concluded.<\/p>\n Cancer is a growing concern as the HIV population ages. In the population at large, a majority of cancer cases are diagnosed in people 60 and older, but chronic HIV infection leads to accelerated aging and leaves HIV-positive people prone to developing health problems at younger ages. It is well known that people with advanced immunodeficiency have an elevated risk for AIDS-defining malignancies, but even less severe impairment can reduce the immune system\u2019s ability to fight cancer.<\/p>\n Sophia Zhao, MD, PhD, and Steven Grinspoon, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues analyzed cancer incidence and risk factors among participants in the REPRIEVE study.<\/p>\n