%0 Journal Article %J International journal of STD & AIDS %D 2008 %T Characteristics of HIV-1-associated Kaposi's sarcoma among women and men in South Africa. %A Mosam, A %A Hurkchand, H P %A Cassol, E %A Page, T %A Cassol, S %A Bodasing, U %A Aboobaker, J %A Dawood, H %A Friedland, G H %A Coovadia, H M %K Adult %K AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections %K CD4 Lymphocyte Count %K Cross-Sectional Studies %K Female %K HIV Infections %K HIV Seropositivity %K HIV-1 %K Humans %K Male %K Sarcoma, Kaposi %K South Africa %N 6 %P 400-5 %R 10.1258/ijsa.2008.007301 %V 19 %X Despite the increase of HIV-1-associated Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), little is known about HIV-associated KS in the African setting, particularly among women. A descriptive study of the demographic, clinical, immunological and virological features of AIDS-associated KS from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa was undertaken. Consecutively, recruited patients were clinically staged; CD4/CD8 cell counts, HIV-1 viral loads and clinical parameters were evaluated. Of the 152 patients (77 male and 75 female) 99% were black. Females were significantly younger (P = 0.02) and had poorer disease prognosis (odds ratio [OR] = 2.7, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.4-5.4, P = 0.003) and were more likely to have extensive cutaneous KS when compared with males (OR = 3.1, 95% CI = 1.4-6.7, P = 0.003). One-third of patients had coexisting HIV-related disease, most commonly tuberculosis, and these were more frequent in females (56.7 vs. 43.3%). In conclusion, HIV-associated KS in South Africans has an equal female-to-male ratio. Females are younger and have more severe disease than males. %8 2008 Jun