No abstract

The survival of patients with HIV infection has improved dramatically over the past 20 years, largely owing to a significant reduction in opportunistic infections and AIDs-defining malignancies, such as lymphoma and Kaposi sarcoma. However, with improved survival, patients with HIV are experiencing morbidity and mortality from other (non-AIDs-defining) complications, such as solid organ malignancies. Of these, the leading cause of mortality in the HIV-infected population is lung cancer, accounting for nearly 30% of all cancer deaths and 10% of all non-HIV-related deaths. Importantly, the average age of onset of lung cancer in the HIV-infected population is 25 to 30 years earlier than that in the general population and at lower exposure to cigarette smoke. This article provides an overview of the epidemiology of lung cancer in the HIV-infected population and discusses some of the important risk factors and pathways that may enhance the risk of lung cancer in this population.

Frailty is highly prevalent and is strongly and independently associated with dyspnoea severity, demonstrating that dyspnoea is a more important determinant of frailty than pulmonary function.

Adults with SSc-ILD have distinct patterns of physiological progression that remain relatively consistent during long-term follow-up; however, recent change in FVC cannot be used to predict future change in FVC within shorter follow-up intervals. The findings of this study provide important information on the course of disease in SSc-ILD and identify specific phenotypes of progression that may improve clinical decision-making and design of future therapeutic trials.

Frailty is highly prevalent in patients with SSc-ILD, indicating that chronological age significantly underestimates biological age in this population. Dyspnea is the variable with the strongest association with frailty in SSc-ILD; however, future studies are needed to identify additional modifiable determinants of frailty and the ability of frailty to predict outcomes in SSc-ILD.