Age patterns of Kaposi's sarcoma incidence in a cohort of HIV-infected men

The life expectancy for HIV-positive individuals has improved over time due to increasing access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Yet, as the HIV-positive population ages, their risk of developing cancers also increases. Studies of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) among elderly HIV-infected persons are quite limited. We examined the age patterns of KS incidence and an association between age and KS risk in a US cohort of 3458 HIV-infected men, the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS). Poisson distribution was used to calculate incidence rates and respective 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Cox proportional hazards regression was performed to examine the association between age and KS risk. There were 534 incident KS cases with a total follow-up time of 25,134 person-years. The overall KS incidence rate was 2.13 per 100 person-years (95% CI: 1.95-2.32) (Non-HAART users-ever: 5.57 per 100 person-years [95% CI: 5.09-6.10]; HAART users-ever: 0.39 per 100 person-years [95% CI: 0.31-0.51]). Overall, KS frequency and incidence declined with age, even in the oldest age group (p(trend) < 0.0001). However, among non-HAART users-ever, the oldest age group had the highest incidence rate ratio compared to younger individuals [15.01, 95% CI: 6.12-44.22]). While the incidence of KS decreased with age, older HIV-infected persons who do not receive HAART are still at increased risk of KS. As KS remains an important malignancy among HIV-infected persons, earlier HIV diagnoses and HAART initiation, particularly in older HIV-infected persons is warranted.