People with HIV who are older than 50 have a higher rate of various cancers compared with the older general population, including some cancers not traditionally associated with the virus, aidsmap reports. However, there are a few cancers that occur at a lower rate among older people with HIV.

Publishing their findings in Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers analyzed data from the HIV-AIDS Cancer Match study, including information about 183,542 people with HIV who were older than 50 who received medical care for the virus between 1996 and 2012.

During a cumulative 928,194 years of follow-up, this population received 10,371 cancer diagnoses, 16 percent of them considered AIDS-related and 84 percent considered non-AIDS- related.

Compared with the rates seen in the general population, all three of the rates of AIDS-defining cancers analyzed in the study occurred at higher rates among the HIV population, including Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), which occurred at a103-fold higher rate among people with HIV; non–Hodgkin lymphoma, which occurred at a 3.05-fold higher rate; and cervical cancer, which occurred at a 2.02-fold higher rate.

Various non-HIV-related cancers occurred at higher rates among those with HIV, including anal cancers (14-fold higher rate), liver cancer (2.91-fold higher rate), lung cancer (1.71-fold higher rate) and mouth and throat cancers (1.66-fold higher rate).

Three cancers occurred at a lower rate among those with HIV compared with the general population, including breast cancer (39 percent lower rate), prostate cancer (53 percent lower rate) and colon cancer (37 percent lower rate).

Having received an AIDS diagnosis was associated with between a 1.37-fold and 2.66-fold increased risk of KS, non–Hodgkin lymphoma and Hodgkin lymphoma as well as anal, oral and throat, and lung cancers.

For most cancers, people with HIV experienced the highest rates during the first five years after testing positive for the virus, including KS, non–Hodgkin lymphoma, lung cancer, breast cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma.

To read the aidsmap article, click here.

To read the study abstract, click here.