Prevalence of HIV Infection among U.S. Hodgkin lymphoma cases

Hodgkin lymphoma is uncommon in the U.S. general population; however, Hodgkin lymphoma risk is elevated in people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Thus, despite the low HIV prevalence in the United States, the HIV epidemic may have contributed substantially to the general population burden of Hodgkin lymphoma.

We used data from 14 U.S. cancer registries in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program that recorded HIV status of Hodgkin lymphoma cases at diagnosis during 2000 to 2010. We computed the HIV prevalence in Hodgkin lymphoma cases by demographic and tumor characteristics, the proportion of deaths among Hodgkin lymphoma cases because of HIV, and 5-year mortality by HIV status.

Of 22,355 Hodgkin lymphoma cases, 848 (3.79%) were HIV infected at diagnosis. HIV prevalence in Hodgkin lymphoma cases was greater among males than females (6.0% vs. 1.2%). Among males, HIV prevalence was greatest among 40- to 59-year-olds (14.2%), non-Hispanic blacks (16.9%), Hispanics (9.9%), and among cases of lymphocyte-depleted (15.1%), and mixed cellularity Hodgkin lymphoma (10.5%). Eight percent of male and 1.5% of female Hodgkin lymphoma cases died from HIV. Five-year mortality was two-fold higher in HIV-infected Hodgkin lymphoma cases (36.9% vs. 17.5%).

In the United States, a substantial proportion of lymphocyte-depleted and mixed cellularity Hodgkin lymphoma cases and Hodgkin lymphoma cases among non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, and middle-aged men are HIV infected. In addition, HIV is an important cause of death among Hodgkin lymphoma cases.

Clinicians should be aware of the high prevalence of HIV in certain subgroups of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma and routine HIV testing should be recommended for all patients presenting with Hodgkin lymphoma.