Since the early years of the AIDS epidemic, it has been evident that people with AIDS (PWA) have dramatically increased risk of Kaposi’s sarcoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. The Viral Epidemiology Branch of the National Cancer Institute has been working to understand the relationships between AIDS and these cancers. CSC, teamed with Research Triangle Institute, has been part of the effort by supporting the HIV/AIDS Cancer Match Study.
The HIV/AIDS Cancer Match Study examines cancer outcomes among PWA. CSC’s involvement began in the early 1990s when we wrote software to link data between AIDS and cancer registries. We used the software to link 11 sets of registries in the U.S. and Puerto Rico and to look for matches. We built a national AIDS/cancer database from the collected data and provided the statistical programming for data analysis. This analysis was presented in dozens of peer-reviewed articles characterizing the tumor outcomes among PWA, which were published in scientific journals.
CSC resumed this work in 2003, conducting another round of linkages at 13 sites in the U.S. and one in Kampala, Uganda. This time we are using a computer-based probabilistic linkage algorithm to compare personal data contained within the registries (social security number; first, middle, and last names; birth date; sex; race; residence; and death date). Potential matches are reviewed by registry representatives legally authorized to see the data. The system includes a commercial product for assigning match probabilities, which is wrapped in custom software from CSC that performs a clerical review of the data. After matching, all personal identifiers are deleted from the analysis data set. This process yields highly reliable data containing no confidential information about subjects.
Many papers and presentations have resulted from this study. CSC scientists are included as co-authors on a number of them, which we list here.
“Invasive cervical cancer among women with AIDS: results of registry linkage.”
Coté T, Schiffman M, Biggar R, Goedert J, Virgo P, Blattner. NACMR Study Group.
Int Conf AIDS: 1993 Jun 6-11;9(1):408
“Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among people with AIDS: incidence, presentation and public health burden”
Coté TR, Biggar RJ, Rosenberg PS, Devesa SS, Percy C, Yellin FJ, Lemp G, Hardy C, Geodert JJ, Blattner WA
Int J Cancer 1997 Nov 27;73(5):645-50.
“Spectrum of AIDS-associated malignant disorders”
Goedert JJ, Coté TR, Virgo P, Scoppa SM, Kingma DW, Gail MH, et al.
i>Lancet: 1998; 351: 1833-1839
“Spectrum of cancers among HIV-infected persons in Africa: The Uganda AIDS-Cancer Registry Match Study”
Sam M. Mbulaiteye, Elly T. Katabira, Henry Wabinga, Donald M. Parkin, Phillip Virgo, Robert Ochai, Meklit Workneh, Alex Coutinho and Eric A. Engels.
Int J Cancer: 118, 985–990 (2006)
“Survival after cancer diagnosis in persons with AIDS”
Biggar RJ, Engels EA, Ly S, Kahn A, Schymura MJ, Sackoff J, Virgo P, Pfeiffer RM.
J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr: 2005 Jul 1;39(3):293-9.
“Hodgkin's lymphoma among people with AIDS: incidence, presentation and public health burden. AIDS/Cancer Study Group”
Coté TR, Biggar RJ, Rosenberg PS, Devesa SS, Percy C, Yellin FJ, Lemp G, Hardy C, Geodert JJ, Blattner WA.
Int J Cancer: 1997 Nov 27;73(5):645-50.
“Survival Improves After Cancer Diagnosis in Persons With AIDS”
Biggar, Robert J MD; Engels, Eric A MD; Ly, Sonny MS; Kahn, Amy MS, Schymura, Maria J PhD; Sackoff, Judith PhD, Virgo, Phillip BS, Pfeiffer, Ruth M PhD.
JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes: Volume 39(3) 1 July 2005
“Trends in cancer risk among people with AIDS in the United States 1980–2002”
Eric A. Engels, Ruth M. Pfeiffer, James J. Goedert, Phillip Virgo, Timothy S. McNeel, Steven M. Scoppa and Robert J. Biggar
AIDS 2006, 20:1645–1654