HHV-8 seropositivity was associated with prevalent prostate cancer among African-Caribbean Tobago men (Odds ratio [O.R.] = 2.24; 95% confidence interval [C.I.], 1.29-3.90). To understand this association, HHV-8 seropositivity among African-Caribbean Tobago women, modes of HHV-8 sexual transmission, the natural history of HHV-8 seropositivity, and the relationship between HHV-8 and incident prostate cancer were examined.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in 213 Tobago women, ages 18-65 years. Age-specific rates were compared to those previously observed in men. Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the association between HHV-8 seropositivity and sexual behaviors among women. A 9-year prospective cohort study was conducted among 407 Tobago men at risk for incident prostate cancer, ages 40-81 years. HHV-8 seroconversion and seroreversion rates and their 95% C.I. were calculated using a Poisson distribution. A case-cohort study was conducted among 90 and 407 Tobago men, ages 40-81 years, with incident prostate cancer and at risk for incident prostate cancer, respectively. Cox proportional hazards modeling for case-cohort design was used to examine the association between baseline HHV-8 seropositivity and incident prostate cancer. All serum/plasma were tested for HHV-8 seropositivity by immunofluorescence assay.
Among women, HHV-8 seroprevalence was 14.1%, with no difference with men of similar age (p-value = .741). There was a significant but minimal association between HHV-8 seropositivity and age less than and equal to 17 years at first sexual intercourse among women (O.R. = 2.51, 95% C.I. = 1.09-5.78). Among men at risk for incident prostate cancer, HHV-8 seroconversion and seroreversion rates were 0.5 (95% C.I., 0.22-0.99) and 2.52 (95% C.I., 1.09-4.96) per 100 person-years, respectively. There were inverse associations between baseline HHV-8 seropositivity and screen-detected incident prostate cancer when age and baseline prostate cancer screening results (Hazard ratio [H.R.] = 0.454, 95% C.I., 0.221 0.933) and age (H.R. = 0.517, 95% C.I., 0.262 1.020) were considered.
Sexual activity may not be the predominant mode of HHV-8 transmission among women. HHV-8 is probably acquired at younger ages, less than 40 years among men. HHV-8 seropositivity may not be related to prostate cancer incidence. The public health significance of these studies is to reduce HHV-8 infection and prostate cancer in Tobago.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-07292008-180906 |
| Date | 28 September 2008 |
| Creators | McDonald, Alicia Catania |
| Contributors | Joel Weissfeld, MD, MPH, Emanuela Taioli, MD, PhD, Frank Jenkins, PhD, John Wilson, PhD, Joseph Zmuda, PhD |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-07292008-180906/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0034 seconds