Advanced stage at diagnosis and elevated mortality among US patients with cancer infected with HIV in the National Cancer Data Base

BACKGROUND People living with HIV (PLWH) are at an increased risk of developing several cancers, but to the authors' knowledge less is known regarding how HIV impacts the rate of progression to advanced cancer or death. METHODS The authors compared stage of disease at the time of presentation and mortality after diagnosis between 14,453 PLWH and 6,368,126 HIV-uninfected patients diagnosed with cancers of the oral cavity, stomach, colorectum, anus, liver, pancreas, lung, female breast, cervix, prostate, bladder, kidney, and thyroid and melanoma using data from the National Cancer Data Base (2004-2014). Polytomous logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards regression were used to evaluate the association between HIV, cancer stage, and stage-adjusted mortality after diagnosis, respectively. Regression models accounted for the type of health facility at which cancer treatment was administered and the type of individual health insurance. RESULTS HIV-infected patients with cancer were found to be more likely to be uninsured (HIV-infected: 5.0% vs HIV-uninfected: 3.3%; P