Objective: We assessed mortality, treatment response, and relapse among HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women with cervical cancer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Design: Cohort study of 87 HIV-infected and 336 HIV-uninfected women with cervical cancer.
Methods: Patients at the Brazilian National Institute of Cancer (2001-2013) were matched on age, calendar year of diagnosis, clinical stage, and tumor histology. Staging and treatment with surgery, radiotherapy, and/or chemotherapy followed international guidelines. We used a Markov model to assess responses to initial therapy, and Cox models for mortality and relapse after complete response (CR).
Results: Among 234 deaths, most were from cancer (82% in HIV-infected vs. 93% in HIV-uninfected women); only 9% of HIV-infected women died from AIDS. HIV was not associated with mortality during initial follow-up but was associated more than 1-2 years after diagnosis [overall mortality: stage-adjusted hazard ratio 2.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.27-3.22; cancer-specific mortality: 4.35, 1.86-10.2]. Among 222 patients treated with radiotherapy, HIV-infected had similar response rates to initial cancer therapy as HIV-uninfected women (hazard ratio 0.98, 95% CI 0.58-1.66). However, among women who were treated and had a CR, HIV was associated with elevated risk of subsequent relapse (hazard ratio 3.60, 95% CI 1.86-6.98, adjusted for clinical stage).
Conclusion: Among women with cervical cancer, HIV infection was not associated with initial treatment response or early mortality, but relapse after attaining a CR and late mortality were increased in those with HIV. These results point to a role for an intact immune system in control of residual tumor burden among treated cervical cancer patients.