Anal Cancer: Rising Incidence in HIV-Infected Patients

Anal cancer is much more common among HIV-infected patients than in the general population. The incidence of most HIV-associated opportunistic conditions has dropped markedly since the introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 1996. If HIV-related immunosuppression were the main cause of the high anal cancer rate, one would expect tumor incidence to have fallen after the advent of effective therapy.

Investigators in France identified 132 cases of anal cancer among 86,322 HIV-infected patients who were part of a nationwide hospital-based cohort. The median age at cancer diagnosis was 43. Ninety-four percent of cases were in men; 71% were in men who have sex with men (MSM). At the time of cancer diagnosis, 78% of patients had…