Trending News: Patients with HIV Diagnosed with Cancer Have Increased Mortality Rates

People living with HIV who are diagnosed with cancer have increased mortality rates compared with patients diagnosed with cancer who are not HIV-positive, according to the American Journal of Managed Care. The findings of a recent study published in JAMA Oncology, combined with previous research, suggest that HIV infection itself may be a driver of higher cancer mortality rates, likely because of the associated immunosuppression. Furthermore, women with breast cancer who had HIV were nearly twice as likely (HR, 1.90) to experience relapse or cancer-specific death, according to the article.

With 56 new cases of hepatitis A reported statewide in the week since the last reporting period, the Florida Surgeon General declared a public health emergency on Thursday, according to the Miami Herald. The number of reported hepatitis A cases in Florida in 2019 rose to 2034 as of July 27, up from the 1978 cases reported on July 20, according to the article. The critically impacted counties in central and western Florida are Brevard, Citrus, Glades, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lake, Liberty, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Okeechobee, Orange, Pasco, Pinellas, Sumter, Taylor, and Volusia.

A study through the Warren Alpert Medical School and the Brown School of Public Health has found that patients with a higher intake of vitamin A had a lower risk of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, according to JAMA Dermatology. The team analyzed data from 75,170 women (with a mean age of 50.4 years) enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study and data from 48,400 men (with a mean age of 54.3 years) enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. The researchers noted that their findings are a good start in terms of understanding whether dietary factors may influence the risk of skin cancer, according to the article.