Overview

While the number of deaths per year in the United States due to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) has decreased in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the numbers of persons living with the disease has increased. The AIDS-defining malignancies are non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), cervical cancer, anal cancer, and Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). Although KS is extremely rare among women, NHL currently ranks fifth in overall female cancer incidence and seventh in mortality. In addition, there is an increased incidence of NHL in women from the pre-HAART to HAART period. The risk of cervical neoplasia is five times higher in women with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection than in HIV negative women, due to a higher prevalence and persistence of oncogenic HPV (human papillomavirus) infection. The prognosis for cervical cancer is also poorer for HIV positive than for HIV negative women. Women infected with HIV and HPV also have a 6.8 fold greater risk of invasive anal cancer than HIV negative, HPV positive women.

Globally, almost half of the adults living with HIV and AIDS today are women. There has been a steady increase in the number of women and girls infected with HIV over the last two years, most dramatically in sub-Saharan Africa where women and girls make up almost 60% of adults living with HIV.

AIDS-Related Cancers Topic Search — Cancer Topic Searches are prepared literature searches from the National Library of Medicine's PubMed database. Citations on a specific sub-category can be retrieved, or results limited by a date range.

Statistics

From 1981 to 2005, women accounted for 186,383 reported AIDS cases, almost one fifth of the 956,019 cases reported during this period.
From 2001 to 2005, the number of reported cases of HIV/AIDS in women decreased 17%.
Of 44,198 estimated AIDS cases diagnosed in 2005 in the U.S., 11,710 (26%) were women.
In 2005, the rate of AIDS diagnoses for black women was 24 times the rate for white women and 4 times the rate for Hispanic women. Of the HIV/AIDS cases diagnosed in 2005, 80% were in black and Hispanic women.
From 2001 through 2005, the estimated number of AIDS cases increased 17% among women and 16% among males.
Between 1992 and 2005, estimated cases of perinatally-acquired AIDS declined 94% in the U.S.
In 2005, heterosexual contact was the source of 80% of new infections in women.
Of the approximately 476,095 persons currently living with HIV/AIDS in the United States, 27% are adult and adolescent women and 79% of the women with HIV/AIDS are minorities.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, 2005. Vol. 17. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2006:1–46. Also available at: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/reports/.

For additional information on HIV/AIDS infection in women in the U.S., see the CDC Fact Sheet: HIV/AIDS among Women.

NCI Research on AIDS-Associated Malignancies

Information about NCI-funded grants, clinical trials, and other programs and initiatives with components that primarily target AIDS-associated malignancies.