Meredith S. Shiels, Ph.D., M.H.S., from the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Md., and colleagues analyzed data on HIV incidence and anal cancer from the HIV/AIDS Cancer Match Study from 1980 to 2005.

Of 20,533 estimated anal cancer cases during this period, the researchers found that 8.1 percent were infected with HIV. From 2001 to 2005, the highest proportion of anal cancer cases with HIV infection were seen -- 1.2 percent of women and 28.4 percent of men. From 1980 to 2005, HIV infection had no impact on the increasing anal cancer incidence in women, which increased by 3.3 percent annually, independent of HIV infection. For men, HIV infection strongly influenced the incidence of anal cancer, which increased by 3.4 percent annually overall and by 1.7 percent annually without HIV infection.

"During 1980 to 2005, the increasing anal cancer incidence rates in the United States were strongly influenced by the HIV epidemic in males but were independent of HIV infection in females," Shiels and colleagues conclude.

Abstract
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