AIDS-RELATED BRONCHOGENIC-CARCINOMA - FACT OR FICTION

Objective: Case reviews and retrospective analyses have raised the pos sibility of an increased frequency of primary lung carcinoma in HIV- a nd AIDS-infected patients, Conclusions have often been controversial a nd conflicting. We conducted a population-based epidemiologic study to assess the incidence of lung neoplasms in an HIV/AIDS cohort, Materia ls and methods: The Texas Department of Health generated descriptive d ata on lung neoplasms in HIV-AIDS patients whose conditions were diagn osed between 1990 and 1995, The cancer registry matched against all pa tients whose conditions were diagnosed during the same time interval. Relative risk was measured through standardized incidence ratios of lu ng neoplasms in the HIV-AIDS population as compared with that of the U S population, Results: The HIV-AIDS data file included 26,181 cases, A total of 76 lung cancer cases were identified, of which 36 (47.4%) we re primary lung cancers, All major histologies were represented. The o bserved (36)/expected (5.6) ratio (standard incidence ratio) for prima ry lung cancer compared to the US population was 6.5 (4.5 to 8.9, 95% confidence interval). Conclusions: Our data indicate a 6.5-fold increa sed incidence of primary lung cancer in HIV- and AIDS-infected patient s, We present the results of our study, a review of the work of other investigators, and address a potentially even greater public health pr oblem in the HIV/AIDS population than previously realized.