USE OF ANTIHERPES DRUGS AND THE RISK OF KAPOSIS-SARCOMA - DATA FROM THE MULTICENTER AIDS COHORT STUDY

To determine if use of antiherpes drugs protects against the developme nt of AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), data from 935 homosexual men with AIDS from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study were analyzed, In nested case-control analysis, neither acyclovir use for human immunod eficiency virus infection (odds ratio [OR], 0.84; 95% confidence inter val [CI], 0.56-1.26; P = .39) nor acyclovir use for any indication (OR , 1.02; 95% CI, 0.76-1.38; P = .89) was associated with a reduced risk of KS as initial AIDS diagnosis, In longitudinal analysis, acyclovir was also not protective against developing KS as a late manifestation of AIDS (after initial non-KS AIDS diagnosis), Among men with cytomega lovirus disease, ganciclovir use (relative risk [RR], 0.56; 95% CI, 0. 22-1.44; P = .23) and foscarnet use (RR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.051-3.10; P = .38) were associated (although not significantly) with a reduced risk of KS, Thus, acyclovir use does not appear to reduce the risk of KS, but further study of other antiherpes drugs such as ganciclovir and fo scarnet is warranted.