Article Abstract:
Women with HIV infection have a higher risk of cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions (SlLs) than healthy women. SIL is a precursor of cervical cancer. In a study of 328 HIV-infected women and 325 uninfected women, 20% of the HIV-infected women developed SIL compared to 5% of the uninfected women. HIV infection and papillomavirus infection were both risk factors for SIL.
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Article Abstract:
The number of women with AIDS in the United States is rapidly increasing. Data gathered from 1981 to 1990 by the Centers for Disease Control was used for epidemiological analysis of women with AIDS. Overall, 51 percent of the women acquired the disease through the use of contaminated equipment for intravenous drug use, such as needles and syringes. Twenty-nine percent were infected by heterosexual contact. However, between 1986 and 1990, the number of women who acquired the disease by use of contaminated equipment for intravenous drug use decreased, while those who acquired infection through heterosexual intercourse increased. The majority of women with AIDS were black or Hispanic (72 percent), living in large cities, especially along the Atlantic coast (73 percent), and of reproductive age, 15 to 44 years old (85 percent). However, the number of women with AIDS who were living in smaller cities and rural areas increased from 22 percent in 1986 to 28 percent in 1990. The ratio of male to female heterosexuals with AIDS is 2.4 to 1, and has remained the same since 1987. When these characteristic were compared with those of heterosexual men with AIDS, similarities by age, race and geographic location, were found. The time of survival from diagnosis of AIDS to death was not very different between women (263 days) and heterosexual men (357 days). Studies of this type are important so that the epidemiology of women with AIDS is understood, better health care can be provided and funds can be effectively allocated. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
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Article Abstract:
Women with HIV have a higher rate of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, and may be at greater risk for cancer of the cervix. HPV causes genital warts and is strongly associated with cervical cancer and other anogenital lesions. Gynecologists examined and interviewed 220 HIV-positive and 231 HIV-negative women every six months and detected HPV more commonly in subjects who had HIV, 83% versus 62%. Persistent HPV infections, seen in 24% of HIV subjects and only 4% of HIV-negative subjects, may explain the prevalence of cervical cancer and precancer in women with HIV.
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