Epidemiology

Abstract

This chapter addresses epidemiological aspects of HIV-associated hematological malignancies in the combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) era. Before the advent of cART, people with HIV infection or AIDS (PWA) had several hundredfold higher risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) and about 10- to 20-fold higher risk of Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL) than the general population of the same sex and age. Although the incidence of NHL in PWA has fallen markedly in the cART era, it remains remarkably higher than in the general population, while rates and excesses of HL remain substantially unvaried. By contrast, leukemias, multiple myeloma, and other hematological conditions are only slightly more common in HIV settings. In addition to a higher risk of developing hematological malignancies, PWA are also at elevated risk of death than their counterparts in the general population. A persisting, although narrowing, gap in cancer survival between PWA and non-PWA is still observed.