Cervical cancer risk in women with HIV similar to those uninfected

Issue: August 25, 2012

WASHINGTON — Women with and without HIV who had a normal cervical cytology were at similar risk for cancer.

Women with and without HIV and tested negative for HPV at baseline were at similar risk for both cervical precancer and cancer after 5 years of follow-up, according to data presented during a press briefing at the 2012 International AIDS Conference.

For the study, researchers set out to assess the 3-year and 5-year risk for cervical precancer and cancer in 420 women with HIV compared with 279 women without HIV. Women who received a negative test result at study enrollment were then included in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study between October 2001 and September 2002. Follow-up was through April 2011.

Results indicated that among those with normal cervical cytology at baseline, 88% of those with HIV and 91% of women without HIV, no oncogenic HPV was detected.

Howard Strickler

During the 5 years of follow-up, there was an overall cumulative incidence of 0.3% and 0.4% of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions among HIV-infected women and HIV-uninfected women, respectively.

The cumulative incidence was 2% for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 2 during the follow-up period among HIV-infected women with CD4 cell counts of less than 350 cells/mcL and in those with CD4 cell counts between 350 cells/mcL and 499 cells/mcL. The cumulative incidence was 5% in HIV-uninfected women and 6% in women with a CD4 cell count of at least 500 cells/mcL. Overall cumulative incidence among women with HIV was 5%.

References:

Strickler HD. JAMA. 2012;308:362-369.

Disclosures:

The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.