Risk of invasive cervical cancer among women with, or at risk for, HIV infection

Although invasive cervical cancer (ICC) has been included among the AIDS-de fining conditions since 1993, it remains controversial whether HIV infectio n increases the risk of developing such neoplasm. In this study, ICC risk w as longitudinally investigated among 1,340 HIV-positive intravenous drug us er (IDU), 811 HIV-negative IDU, and 801 HIV-positive heterosexual women. Th ese women, aged 15-49 years, were followed up at the Italian HIV Seroconver ter Study, at the San Patrignano Community (Rimini, North Italy), and in So uth-eastern France (the DMI-2 study). The number of observed cases of ICC w as compared with the expected one, based on ICC incidence rates among women of the same age in the general population of Italy or France, and standard ized incidence ratios (SIR) were computed; 9,070 person-years of observatio n were accumulated among HIV-positive women and 2,310 among HIV-negative on es. Ten cases of ICC were diagnosed among HIV-positive women (SIR = 12.8): ICC risk was apparently higher among HIV-positive IDU (SIR = 16.7) than amo ng heterosexual women (SIR = 6.7). No cases of ICC were diagnosed among HIV -negative IDU women admitted to the San Patrignano Community (0.15 cases we re expected). Our findings confirm previous suggestions showing an increase d risk of ICC among HIV-infected women and have important implications at t he individual and public health levels. Int. J. Cancer 82:334-337, 1999. (C ) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.