Long-Term HIV Suppression and Incidence of AIDS-Defining and Non–AIDS-Defining Cancer

Antiretroviral therapy improves immune function and reduces inflammation, thereby reducing HIV-associated morbidity and mortality. To determine whether long-term virologic suppression also reduces cancer risk among people living with HIV (PLWH), investigators studied PLWH and matched, HIV-uninfected controls by linking the VA aging cohort study (VACS) with the VA Central Cancer Registry and the VA Corporate Data Warehouse. Cancers were classified as AIDS-defining cancer (ADC), non–AIDS-defining cancer caused by oncogenic viruses (virus NADC), and non–AIDS-defining cancer not caused by oncogenic viruses (nonvirus NADC). The population was 98% male, about half were non-Hispanic blacks, and about two thirds had a history of smoking.

Of 42,441 P…