Patients with HIV have an increased incidence of AIDS-defining cancers, infection-related non-AIDSdefining cancers, and mortality, according to an assessment of cancer incidence among Medicaid beneficiaries with or without HIV that was published in JAIDS. Corinne Joshu, PhD, and colleagues assessed 43.4 million Medicaid beneficiaries aged 18-64, including 180,058 with HIV, from 14 US states who had no evidence of a prior cancer. The researchers found incidence of AIDS-defining cancers, infectionrelated non-AIDS-defining cancers, and mortality was higher among patients with HIV. For non-AIDS-defining cancers, such as breast, prostate, and colon cancer, the study team noted the incidence was increased or similar among people with HIV aged less than 50 but higher among those without HIV by age 65. Results showed that the incidence of lung and head and neck cancer was always higher for female beneficiaries with HIV. Dr. Joshu and colleagues reported small differences in incidence trends by race/ ethnicity. “Future work should explore possible mechanisms explaining the differences in incidence for specific cancer types,” they wrote.
