Cancer trends in a population at risk of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

Recent case reports have suggested that the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) may be associated with cancers other than Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). We have used the population-based registries of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program to examine these relationships on a statistical basis by comparing the morbidity odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for specific cancer sites in pre- and post-AIDS time periods. Among never-married 20- to 49-year-old men, a surrogate group representing homosexual men, significant increases in the morbidity OR's for KS between 1973-80 and 1981-82 were apparent in the San Francisco standard metropolitan statistical area (OR: 51.8; CI: 18.6-143.6) and in other areas covered by the SEER Program (OR: 18.6; CI: 2.2-154.5). Furthermore, a significant increase was found in the morbidity OR for Burkitt-like lymphoma in the San Francisco metropolitan area (OR: 9.1; CI: 1.8-45.6). In San Francisco County (which includes the City of San Francisco), there was a 2,043-fold increase in the morbidity OR for KS and a fivefold increase for Burkitt-like lymphomas, but there were no significant changes for other cancers between 1973-79 and 1982. Similarly, no significant changes in morbidity OR's were observed for other cancers in the remaining SEER registries. These findings provided statistical support for the excess risk of Burkitt-like lymphoma in a group at risk of AIDS.