Abstract
Introduction
We ascertained incidence of OIs in people living with HIV (PLHIV) with cancer undergoing chemotherapy with non-HIV comparators.
Methods
We identified 2,106 PLHIV and 2,981 uninfected Veterans with cancer who received at least one dose of chemotherapy between 1996 and 2017 from the Veterans Aging Cohort Study. We ascertained incident OIs within six months of chemotherapy amongst zoster, cytomegalovirus, tuberculosis, Candida esophagitis, Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP), toxoplasmosis, Cryptococcosis, atypical Mycobacterium infection, Salmonella bacteremia, histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis, or progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. We used Poisson methods to calculate OI incidence rates by HIV status, stratifying for hematological and non-hematological tumors. We compared OI rates by HIV status, using inverse probability weights of HIV status, further adjusting for PCP prophylaxis.
Results
We confirmed 106 OIs in 101 persons. Adjusted OI incidence rate ratios (IRR) indicated higher risk in PLHIV for all cancers (IRR 4·8; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2·8-8·2), hematological cancers (IRR 8·2; 95% CI 2·4-27·3), and non-hematological cancers (IRR 3·9; 95% CI: 2·1-7·2). IRRs were not significantly higher in those with CD4>200 cells/mm 3 and viral load < 500 copies/mL (IRR 1·8; 95% CI: 0·9-3·2). All PCP cases (n=11) occurred in PLHIV, with two microbiologically unconfirmed cases among 1,467 PLHIV with non-hematological cancers, no PCP prophylaxis and CD4 counts >200/mm 3.
Conclusions
Veterans with HIV undergoing chemotherapy had higher rates of OIs than uninfected Veterans, particularly those with hematological cancers, but not in PLHIV with HIV controlled disease. Our study does not support systematic PCP prophylaxis in solid tumors in PLHIV with HIV controlled disease.