With cancer an increasingly significant cause of sickness and death among people with HIV, a new study has shed important light on the timing and patterns of cancer diagnoses after antiretroviral (ARV) treatment is begun, aidsmap reports. Reporting their findings in the online edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases, a team of researchers analyzed records of 11,485 people with HIV who began ARVs between 1996 and 2011, with a median year of 2004. As the study population began therapy, the median CD4 count was 202.

The incidence rates for Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) and for lymphomas were at their peak in the six months following ARV initiation; after that, they leveled off. On average, incidence rates for all other cancers combined increased at an average of 7 percent each year between one and 10 years after beginning ARVs—a finding the study authors attributed to the effects of aging. Having a lower CD4 count when starting therapy was associated with a greater risk of KS, lymphoma and human papillomavirus (HPV)–related cancer.

To read the aidsmap story, click here.

To read the study abstract, click here.