Kaiser Ties HIV To More Skin Cancer

Kaiser Permanente researchers have tied HIV-positive patients to a much higher incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers.

According to a study of data of some 43,560 Kaiser Permanente enrollees between 1996 and 2008, those who were HIV-positive had a 2.1 times greater risk for developing basal cell carcinomas and a 2.6 times greater risk for developing squamous cell carcinomas.

Unlike melanoma, both types of these cancers are rarely lethal. However, they are diagnosed in 3.5 million Americans each year, and can lead to severe local skin damage if not removed in a timely fashion.

The research dovetails into prior medical research demonstrating significantly higher rates of many forms of cancer in patients who have been diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

“The clinical implications for these findings include increased vigilance in skin cancer screening for HIV-positive individuals, especially for squamous cell carcinomas and particularly for those who are not on a antiretroviral therapy or who were diagnosed late and have more advanced HIV/AIDS,” said Maryam M. Asgari, M.D., a Kaiser dermatologist and co-author of the study.

Kaiser officials also noted that the research is a rare insight into the development and progression of common skin cancers such as squamous and basal cell carcinomas,  which are typically not recorded in any disease registries because of their usually non-lethal nature.

The study's findings were published in the most recent issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.