Increased prevalence of renal cell carcinoma in patients with HIV infection

Following the observation of the occurrence of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in a local HIV patient, a retrospective case review was conducted on our local hospital population to determine if the prevalence of RCC in patients with HIV infection was greater than in the non-HIV population. All 66,715 unique adult patient admissions (over 18) to the Medical Center of Central Georgia from 1990 through 1994 were reviewed to determine the total number of HIV admissions, the total number of patients with RCC, and the total number of patients with concomitant RCC and HIV infection. The expected prevalence of HIV-positive adults with RCC in this hospital population was then calculated based on local RCC prevalence data using the Poisson equation. Three hundred eight admissions were HIV infected, two of which had concomitant RCC. Forty-eight additional cases of RCC were documented during this time in non-HIV patients. The probability of an adult coming to this institution with RCC is 0.0007. Using this density in the Poisson equation, the probability of observing two cases of RCC in 308 HIV admissions was 0.01873, p < 0.05. The difference between the two proportions equation yielded a z value of 1.121. Data reveal that the prevalence of RCC in our hospital HIV patients is 8.5 times greater than in our non-HIV population, with an average age of occurrence approximately 15 years younger than national statistics.