While Hodgkin lymphoma is more common among people with HIV, living with the virus is not associated with a worse outcome following treatment with what’s known as the ABVD chemotherapy regimen, Healio reports.

Juan José del Moral Diez, MD, of the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán in Mexico City, presented this finding from an observational case-control study at the Society of Hematologic Oncology Annual Meeting.

The study group consisted of 79 men with advanced-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma, including 21 men with HIV (average age 43) and 58 HIV-negative men (average age 45). All were treated with first-line ABVD chemotherapy, which consists of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine.

The median time between HIV diagnosis and cancer diagnosis for those living with the virus was 40 months. Ninety-one percent of the men with HIV were on antiretroviral treatment at the time of their lymphoma diagnosis.

The median follow-up time was 10 months among the HIV-positive men and 45 months among the HIV-negative men.

Between the men with and without HIV, there were no statistically significant differences in the rates of complete response to the lymphoma treatment (61% versus 66%), partial response (5.6% versus 5.4%) or relapse (13% versus 30%).

However, HIV-negative men had a significantly longer recurrence-free survival time of 51 months compared with 24 months among those with the virus.

By the time of the men’s last scheduled study visit, 29% of the HIV-positive men and 28% of the HIV-negative men had died. Neither group had reached the median overall survival point.

Factors associated with poorer outcomes included being 45 years old or older and having Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma. Having an International Prognostic Score higher than 3 was associated with a higher risk of death.

To read the Healio article, click here.

 

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