Gynecologic Oncology Reports (Oct 2022)

Cancer treatment and survival among cervical cancer patients living with or without HIV in South Africa

  • Yannick Q. Turdo,
  • Yann Ruffieux,
  • Tebatso M.G. Boshomane,
  • Hannes Mouton,
  • Katayoun Taghavi,
  • Andreas D. Haas,
  • Matthias Egger,
  • Gary Maartens,
  • Eliane Rohner

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 43
p. 101069

Abstract

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Objective: To compare cancer treatment and all-cause mortality between HIV-positive and HIV-negative cervical cancer patients in South Africa. Methods: We assessed cancer treatment and all-cause mortality in HIV-positive and HIV-negative cervical cancer patients who received cancer treatment within 180 days of diagnosis using reimbursement claims data from a private medical insurance scheme in South Africa between 01/2011 and 07/2020. We assessed treatment provision using logistic regression and factors associated with all-cause mortality using Cox regression. We assigned missing values for histology and ethnicity using multiple imputation. Results: Of 483 included women, 136 (28 %) were HIV-positive at cancer diagnosis (median age: 45.7 years), and 347 (72 %) were HIV-negative (median age: 54.1 years). Among 285 patients with available ICD-O-3 morphology claims codes, the proportion with cervical adenocarcinoma was substantially lower in HIV-positive (4 %) than in HIV-negative patients (26 %). Most HIV-positive patients (67 %) were on antiretroviral therapy at cancer diagnosis. HIV-positive patients were more likely to receive radiotherapy (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.90, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.05–3.45) or chemotherapy (aOR 2.02, 95 %CI 0.92–4.43) and less likely to undergo surgery (aOR 0.53, 95 %CI 0.31–0.90) than HIV-negative patients. HIV-positive patients were at a higher risk of death from all causes than HIV-negative patients (adjusted hazard ratio 1.52, 95 %CI 1.06–2.19). Other factors associated with higher all-cause mortality included age > 60 years and metastases at diagnosis. Conclusions: HIV-positive cervical cancer patients in South Africa had higher all-cause mortality than HIV-negative patients which could be explained by differences in tumour progression, clinical care, and HIV-specific mortality.

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