The types of cancers in HIV-positive patients have shifted since antiretroviral therapies were introduced in the mid-’90s, according to researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as reported by United Press International.
According to the article, non-AIDS-defining malignancies have become more prevalent in HIV-positive people, who are 60 percent more likely to have anal, lung, Hodgkin’s, melanoma or liver cancers than their negative peers.
“The increase is more visible because these patients are living longer,” said Roger Bedimo, MD, assistant professor and lead author of the study. “But our findings suggest that the increased number of non-AIDS-defining malignancies is not simply the result of their longer lives.” The precise reason as to why these types of malignancies are more common in HIV-positive people remains unclear.
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