Epidemiology of Kaposi's sarcoma in the Nordic countries before the AIDS epidemic

Abstract

Summary Based on data from the Nordic cancer registries, time-related trends in incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) were analysed in four ethnically similar populations before the AIDS epidemic. Data were available for different time periods in Denmark (1970-79), Sweden (1958-79), Finland (1953 and Norway (1953-79). KS was more common among men than among women aged 60 years or more, whereas no differences were observed for younger persons. The incidence of KS differed significantly between the four countries (P=0.0001); Sweden having the highest and Denmark the lowest rates. Similarly, regional differences in incidence were observed within Sweden, rates being higher in the northern than in the southern areas (Ptrend = 0.002). Overall, in Nordic men the world standardised incidence rose from 0.5/1 000 000 person -years in the period 1953-57 to 1.8/1 000 000 person-years in 1978-79; in Nordic women, the corresponding rates were 0.2/1 000 000 person-years and 0.8/1 000 000 person-years respectively. The rate of increase was similar in Sweden, Finland and Norway (P=0.14), whereas the short period of observation in Denmark precluded precise assessment of time-related incidence trends. These observations cannot be explained by registrational procedures or known risk factors for KS, and argue that environmental factors play an important role in the development of the disease.

Epidemiology of classic Kaposi's sarcoma in the Israeli Jewish population between 1960 and 1998

“…Among the age group of 0 -24, the rates per million were 0.6 and 0.2 in males and females, respectively, with no cases recorded below 5 years of age (Table 2). The substantial increase with age in the age-specific rates of CKS cases is consistent with other reports (Cottoni et al, 1996;Hjalgrim et al, 1996;Brenner et al, 2002).…”

High incidence of classical Kaposi's sarcoma in Iceland and the Faroe Islands

“…However, in a recent study of classical KS in four Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark) before the AIDS epidemic, we reported that highly significant variation in incidence amounting to eightfold in women and 13-fold in men may also exist between four ethnically very similar, neighbouring populations (Hjalgrim et al, 1996b). As this variation could not be attributed to any known risk factor for classical KS, including proportion of immigrants from high-risk areas, transplantations, diagnostic or registrational procedures, it may suggest the existence of an environmental factor of significance for the development of KS (Hjalgrim et al, 1996b).Intrigued by the variation in KS incidence between these four countries, we ascertained the incidence of classical KS in two other geographically distinct Nordic populations, Iceland and the …”

“…In these countries world standardized rates varied from 0.01 to 0.09 per 100 000 person-years in women and from 0.02 to 0.26 per 100 000 person-years in men (Figure 1) (Hjalgrim et al, 1996b).…”

“…---, indicates world standardized incidence rates and indicates-rates standardized to local populations. Sources of data: Finland, Sweden, Norway (Hjalgrim et al, 1996b), Denmark (Hjalgrim et al, 1996a), England (Grulich et al, 1992), US (Biggar et al, 1984), Australia (Kaldor et al, 1994), Italy (Geddes et al, 1994), Greece (Touloumi et al, 1997). For Sardinia, world standardized rates have been calculated on the basis of published data (Cottoni et al, 1996).…”

Prevalence of antibodies against Kaposi's sarcoma associated herpes virus (KSHV) complement inhibitory protein (KCP) in KSHV-related diseases and their correlation with clinical parameters

“…The third group included a population-based sample of healthy individuals from northern Sweden, who were positive for anti-lytic or anti-latent KSHV antigens [7]. Since the incidence of classical KS in northern Sweden is estimated to be four-fold lower than in Italy [8], we wanted to check whether these individuals have elevated levels of anti-KCP antibodies compared to previously studied groups of Italian patients. This could suggest possible role of anti-KCP response in protection from KS development.…”