Evidence for lack of cervical cancer screening among HIV-positive women in Italy

Prevalence and cumulative incidence of abnormal cervical cytology among HIV-infected Thai women: a 5.5-year retrospective cohort study

Background

Cervical cancer is one of the most common AIDS-related malignancies in Thailand. To prevent cervical cancer, The US Public Health Service and The Infectious Disease Society of America have recommended that all HIV-infected women should obtain 2 Pap smears 6 months apart after the initial HIV diagnosis and, if results of both are normal, should undergo annual cytological screening. However, there has been no evidence in supporting whether this guideline is appropriate in all settings - especially in areas where HIV-infected women are living in resource-constrained condition.

Methods

To determine the appropriate interval of Pap smear screenings for HIV-infected Thai women and risk factors for subsequent abnormal cervical cytology, we assessed the prevalence, cumulative incidence and associated factors of cervical cell abnormalities (atypical squamous cell of undetermined significance or higher grades, ASCUS+) among this group of patients.

Results

The prevalence of ASCUS+ was 15.4% at the first visit, and the cumulative incidence of ASCUS+ gradually increased to 37% in the first 3.5 years of follow-up appointments (first 7 times), and tended to plateau in the last 2 years. For multivariate correlation analysis, women with a CD4 count <350 cells/μL had a significant correlation with ASCUS+ (P = 0.043). There were no associations of subsequent ASCUS+ with age, pregnancy, contraceptive method, highly active anti-retroviral treatment, assumed duration of infection, or the CD4 count nadir level.

Conclusion

There are high prevalence and cumulative incidence of ASCUS+ in HIV-infected Thai women. With a high lost-to-follow-up rate, an appropriate interval of Pap smear screening cannot be concluded from the present study. Nevertheless, the HIV-infected Thai women may require more than two normal semi-annual Pap smears before shifting to routinely annual cytologic screening.

Self-reported history of Pap-smear in HIV-positive women in Northern Italy: a cross-sectional study

Background

The incidence of invasive cervical cancer in HIV-positive women is higher than in the general population. There is evidence that HIV-positive women do not participate sufficiently in cervical cancer screening in Italy, where cervical cancer is more than 10-fold higher in women with AIDS than in the general population. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the history of Pap-smear in HIV-positive women in Italy in recent years. We also examined the sociodemographic, clinical, and organizational factors associated with adherence to cervical cancer screening.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted between July 2006 and June 2007 in Emilia-Romagna region (Northern Italy). All HIV-positive women who received a follow-up visit in one of the 10 regional infectivology units were invited to participate. History of Pap-smear, including abnormal smears and subsequent treatment, was investigated through a self-administered anonymous questionnaire. The association between lack of Pap-smear in the year preceding the interview and selected characteristics was assessed by means of odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals adjusted for study centre and age.

Results

A total of 1,002 HIV-positive women were interviewed. Nine percent reported no history of Pap-smear, and 39% had no Pap-smear in the year prior to the date of questionnaire (last year). The lack of Pap-smear in the last year was significantly associated with age <35 years (OR = 1.4, compared to age ≥45 years), lower education level (OR = 1.3), first HIV-positive test in the last 2 years (OR = 1.4), and CD4 count <200 cells/μl (OR = 1.6). Conversely, when women were advised by a gynecologist rather than other health workers to undergo screening, it significantly increased adherence. Non-significantly higher proportions of lack of Pap-smear in the last year were found in women born in Central-Eastern Europe (OR = 1.8) and Africa (OR = 1.3). No difference in history of Pap-smear emerged by mode of HIV-acquisition or AIDS status.

Three hundred five (34%) women reported a previous abnormal Pap-smear, and of the 178 (58%) referred for treatment, 97% complied.

Conclusions

In recent years the self-reported history of Pap-smear in HIV-positive women, in some public clinics in Italy, is higher than previously reported, but further efforts are required to make sure cervical cancer screening is accessible to all HIV-positive women.

Prevention of cervical cancer in women with HIV

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Cervical cancer, caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), is the only cancer that is almost preventable through regular screening. In high-resource, as in low-resource and middle-resource countries, women hit by the AIDS epidemic have a high prevalence of infection with HPV and related disease, including cervical cancer. The question whether cervical screening, which helped to reduce dramatically cervical cancer rates through the detection of precancerous lesions in the general population, is as efficient in the setting of HIV is still debated.

RECENT FINDINGS

The risk for cervical cancer remained high and stable during the last decade in HIV-infected women, and incidence did not decrease with improving CD4 cell counts in women receiving antiviral therapy. Optimal methods to improve both the sensitivity and the specificity of cervical cancer screening are currently evaluated. The use of HPV DNA tests in primary screening endorsed in the general population may be less specific in immunocompromised women and might thus not be as efficient on screening. HPV vaccines, recently available, have no therapeutic effect and might thus not be very useful in preventing cervical cancer in a population highly infected with multiple and persistent HPV.

SUMMARY

Cervical cancer prevention remains an important goal in HIV-infected women and specific guidelines are warranted for this increasing population.

Pattern of cancer risk in persons with AIDS in Italy in the HAART era

A record-linkage study was carried out between the Italian AIDS Registry and 24 Italian cancer registries to compare cancer excess among persons with HIV/AIDS (PWHA) before and after the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 1996. Standardised incidence ratios (SIR) were computed in 21951 AIDS cases aged 16–69 years reported between 1986 and 2005. Of 101 669 person-years available, 45 026 were after 1996. SIR for Kaposi sarcoma (KS) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma greatly decreased in 1997–2004 compared with 1986–1996, but high SIRs for KS persisted in the increasingly large fraction of PWHA who had an interval of <1 year between first HIV-positive test and AIDS diagnosis. A significant excess of liver cancer (SIR=6.4) emerged in 1997–2004, whereas the SIRs for cancer of the cervix (41.5), anus (44.0), lung (4.1), brain (3.2), skin (non-melanoma, 1.8), Hodgkin lymphoma (20.7), myeloma (3.9), and non-AIDS-defining cancers (2.2) were similarly elevated in the two periods. The excess of some potentially preventable cancers in PWHA suggests that HAART use must be accompanied by cancer-prevention strategies, notably antismoking and cervical cancer screening programmes. Improvements in the timely identification of HIV-positive individuals are also a priority in Italy to avoid the adverse consequences of delayed HAART use.

Cervical Cancer Screening of Women Living with HIV Infection: A Must in the Era of Antiretroviral Therapy

Women living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection have a much higher risk of human papillomavirus infection and cervical cancer than do HIV-uninfected women. Before the introduction of antiretroviral therapy, the lack of cervical cancer screening among HIV-infected women probably had little influence on their life expectancies because of the high competing mortality associated with other causes, but the situation is changing rapidly everywhere. In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, approximately 400,000 HIV-infected women were receiving antiretroviral therapy in 2005. Funds given to antiretroviral therapy programs in low-resource countries not only support the purchase of drugs, but they also support the development of clinical infrastructures and laboratories. Because women who receive antiretroviral therapy are observed regularly, they can also receive the continuity of care needed for cervical screening. Therefore, the real opportunity to prevent cervical cancer in HIV-infected women in low-resource countries should not be missed, especially as new, inexpensive screening methods (e.g., rapid human papillomavirus tests) are under evaluation.