Vulvar, vaginal, and perianal intraepithelial neoplasia in women with or at risk for human immunodeficiency virus.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the incidence of vulvar, vaginal, and perianal intraepithelial neoplasia among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected women with a group of well-matched high-risk HIV-uninfected controls.

METHODS

A total of 192 HIV-infected and 88 uninfected women at high risk for HIV were followed up prospectively in Providence, Rhode Island during a 6-year period. Pap tests and cervicovaginal lavage for human papillomavirus detection and typing were performed at baseline and every 6 months thereafter. All women referred for colposcopy underwent a full colposcopic evaluation, including the vulvar, vaginal, and perianal regions. Unadjusted hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated for development of vulvar, vaginal, and perianal intraepithelial neoplasia using univariable Cox proportional hazards models. An incidence analysis was performed by calculating Kaplan-Meier survival curves for development of intraepithelial neoplasia.

RESULTS

At baseline, 3 (1.6%) of the 192 HIV-infected women and none of the 88 HIV-uninfected women had vulvar, vaginal, and perianal intraepithelial neoplasia. During the study, 16 of 189 (8.5%) HIV-infected women and 1 of 88 (1.1%) HIV-uninfected women developed vulvar, vaginal, and perianal intraepithelial neoplasia. The incidence of vulvar, vaginal, or anal intraepithelial neoplasia was 1.96 per 100 person years for the HIV-infected women and 0.26 per 100 person-years for the HIV-uninfected women (P = .03).

CONCLUSION

Human immunodeficiency virus-infected women had more vulvar, vaginal, and perianal intraepithelial lesions compared with HIV-uninfected women. Furthermore, the incidence rates were higher than has been found in HIV-infected women in other similar cohorts.