Changes in the epidemiology of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma associated with epidemic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.

The extent to which the epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has changed the descriptive epidemiology of cancers other than Kaposi's sarcoma is unknown. This study, based on cancer surveillance data (New York State Cancer Registry) and mortality statistics (New York City death certificates), examines changes in the epidemiology of another HIV-related malignancy, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Since the beginning of the epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), there have been large increases in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among the population at highest risk of HIV infection, never married males, aged 25-54 years, who live in neighborhoods with high AIDS mortality. In this group between 1980 and 1984, age-adjusted incidence increased from 12.3 to 31.8 per 100,000, proportional cancer incidence increased from 6.4 to 20.2% and, between 1980-1981 and 1984-1985, biannual mortality increased from 4.2 to 13.5 per 100,000 (all trends p less than 0.01). These results demonstrate the value of using routinely-collected cancer and mortality surveillance data to study HIV-related malignancies.