Lung Cancer in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study: Role of Smoking, Immunodeficiency and Pulmonary Infection

“Immunodeficiency and AIDS-related pulmonary infections have been suggested as independent causes of lung cancer among HIV-infected persons, in addition to smoking,” the authors wrote.

The researchers identified 68 lung cancer cases in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS) or through linkage with the Swiss Cancer Registries (1985-2010); these then were individually matched to 337 controls by center, gender, HIV transmission category, age, and calendar period. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR).

The results showed that 96.2 percent of lung cancer patients and 72.9 percent of controls were ever smokers, “confirming the high prevalence of smoking and its strong association with lung cancer” (OR for current vs. never=14.4, 95 percent confidence interval: 3.36-62.1).

The researchers found no significant associations between CD4+ cell count and lung cancer, “neither when measured within 1 year (OR for <200 vs. =500=1.21, 95 percent CI: 0.49-2.96) nor further back in time, before lung cancer diagnosis.”

“Combined antiretroviral therapy was not significantly associated with lung cancer (OR for ever vs. never=0.67, 95 percent CI: 0.29-1.52), nor was a history of AIDS with (OR=0.49, 95 percent CI: 0.19-1.28) or without (OR=0.53, 95 percent CI: 0.24-1.18) pulmonary involvement,” the authors wrote.

“Lung cancer in the SHCS does not seem to be clearly associated with immunodeficiency or AIDS-related pulmonary disease, but seems to be attributable to heavy smoking,” the researchers concluded.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!