HIV Testing in Patients With Cancer at the Initiation of Therapy at a Large US Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Hwang JP, Granwehr BP, Torres HA, Suarez-Almazor ME, Giordano TP, Barbo AG, Lin HY, Fisch MJ, Chiao EY. HIV Testing in Patients With Cancer at the Initiation of Therapy at a Large US Comprehensive Cancer Center. Journal of oncology practice / American Society of Clinical Oncology. 2015 Sep 1; 11(5):384-90.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions

Search for Abstract from PubMed

---

Abstract:

PURPOSE: To determine the rates of HIV testing and infection among patients with cancer at initiation of systemic cancer therapy. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adults with cancer who registered at a comprehensive cancer center from January 2004 through April 2011 and received systemic cancer therapy. We determined rates of HIV-1/2 and/or Western blot testing and HIV positivity at initiation of systemic cancer therapy. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine predictors of HIV testing. RESULTS: Of 18,874 patients with cancer who received systemic cancer therapy during the study period, 3,514 (18.6%) were tested for HIV at initiation of cancer therapy. The prevalence of positive HIV test results was 1.2% (41 of 3,514), and the prevalence of newly diagnosed HIV was 0.3% (12 of 3,514). The HIV testing rate was lower in black than in white patients (13.7% v 19.2%), but the prevalence of positive test results was higher in black patients (4.5%) than in any other racial/ethnic group. Among patients with AIDS-defining cancers (eg, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cervical cancer), predictors of HIV testing were history of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, younger age, and registration after 2006. Among patients with non-AIDS-defining cancers, predictors of HIV testing were younger age, registration after 2006, male sex, history of illicit drug use or sexually transmitted disease, having a hematologic malignancy, and black race. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of HIV infection among patients with cancer was 1.2%, higher than the 0.1% prevalence threshold above which national guidelines recommend routine opt-out testing; however, the overall HIV testing rate was low.