Study Examines KS Risk Factors

Being white, gay, a college graduate, or having a job paying more than $30,000 a year could put HIVers at a higher risk of developing Kaposi's sarcoma, scientists reported in the June 10 edition of the International Journal of Cancer. Data from a study of 503 HIV-positive men who tested positive for human herpesvirus 8, which has been linked with the HIV-related cancer, show that those who are African-American, are cigarette smokers, are crack users, are bisexual, had been paid for sex, had not graduated from college, and earn less than $30,000 were among the least likely to progress to the development of KS. The researchers are unclear why these criteria might be linked with KS risks, but they concede that the associations they identified 'could be biased by potential differences in relative timing of HHV-8 and HIV infection, a postulated determinant of KS risk.'