Malignancies, particularly B-cell lymphomas, are a frequent cause of mortality in human immunodeficiency virus-1 patients despite highly active antiretroviral therapy

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1-infected individuals are affected by diseases at rates above those of their HIVnegative peers despite the increased life expectancy of the highly active antiretroviral therapy era. We followed a cohort of approximately 2000 HIV-1-infected patients for 5 years. The most frequent cause of death in this HIV-1-infected cohort was malignancy, with 39% of all classified deaths due to cancer. Among the cancer deaths, B-cell lymphomas were the most commonly seen malignancy, representing 34% of all cancer deaths. These lymphomas were very aggressive with a median survival of < 2 months from time of diagnosis.