ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Malignancies have become a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in people living with HIV (PLHIV). The primary endpoint of our study was to describe the epidemiology of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-defining cancers (ADCs) and non-AIDS-defining cancers (NADCs). Epidemiological disparities, mortality predictors and survival analysis within the two groups of patients were key secondary endpoints. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated all adult PLHIV with histopathologically proven cancers registered from 2010 to 2016 in the "Matei BalÈ" National Institute for Infectious Diseases, Bucharest, Romania. RESULTS: 110 eligible patients have been included in the study. The incidence of ADCs decreased from 1.6% in 2010 to 0.3% in 2016, unlike NADCs which remained fairly stable over time (0.3%). The higher CD4 count and lower HIV-RNA level at the cancer diagnosis were associated with prolonged survival in ADCs group, but not in NADCs group. The mean CD4 count was 449/mm3 to survivors and 92/mm3 to non-survivors (p=0.017). The mean level of HIV-RNA was 64,671 copies/mL to survivors and 1,760,345 copies/mL to non-survivors (p=0.002). CONCLUSIONS: A good therapeutic control of HIV infection at the diagnosis of ADCs was associated with better survival, emphasizing the key role of the effective cART in the management of HIV-associated cancers.
Subject(s)
HIV Infections/complications , Neoplasms/epidemiology , Adult , Anti-Retroviral Agents/therapeutic use , CD4 Lymphocyte Count , Female , HIV Infections/drug therapy , HIV Infections/pathology , HIV Infections/virology , Humans , Incidence , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Middle Aged , Neoplasms/mortality , Retrospective Studies , Romania/epidemiology , Survival Analysis , Tertiary Care Centers , Viral LoadABSTRACT
A group of 55 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, aged from 8 to 40 years, was followed and compared to a group of controls, in view of detecting a possible relation between the presence of inframicrobial agents and diabetes pathogenesis. The investigations revealed, in patients, significantly higher positivity rate of antibodies against mumps (27% versus 16.3% in controls), parainfluenza type 1 (45.4% versus 29.1%) and Epstein-Barr (54.5% versus 10.9%) viruses, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae (43.6 versus 18.2%).
