title: AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma is more aggressive in women: a study of 54 patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the epidemiologic and clinical features of AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) in women compared with men.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a retrospective study, within the Italian Cooperative Group on AIDS and Tumors (GICAT), we compared selected characteristics of 54 women and 108 men with AIDS-associated KS, matched by date of KS diagnosis and referral hospital. The chi2 test was used to test differences among proportions; the Kaplan-Meier method to estimate the survival time, and the Cox proportional hazard model was used to assess the role of gender, age, and CD4 cell count on death's risk.
  
  
  RESULTS
  KS occurred at an earlier age (p = .001), was associated with a more severe immunodeficiency (p = .03), more advanced stages of HIV disease (p = .05), and had more aggressive presentation and course in women than in men. At KS diagnosis, women had a significantly increased proportion of visceral disease (p = .009), in particular pulmonary involvement (p = .002) and atypical sites of involvement (p = .008). The number of deaths due to KS was significantly higher (p = .01) in female patients. Both the higher proportion of visceral disease and of KS-related deaths observed in women did not change after adjusting for CD4 cell count and age. Women showed a decreased overall survival compared with men (8.9 and 14.4 months, respectively; p = .07), and the CD4 cell count at diagnosis significantly influenced survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that KS is more aggressive and life threatening in female than in male patients. This peculiar clinical behavior may reflect an inherently more aggressive biology of KS in women, possibly mediated by the level of immunodeficiency.
authors: Division of Medical Oncology and AIDS, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, Aviano, Italy.
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Nasti
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Serraino
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Ridolfo
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Antinori
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Rizzardini
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Zeroli
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Nigro
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Tavio
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Vaccher
authors: U
authors: U
authors: Tirelli
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000328:Adult; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology*