Demographics, Trends, and Cardiovascular Mortality in Kaposi Sarcoma Patients in the United States: An Analysis of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Database.

BACKGROUND

Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is a vascular neoplasm caused by human herpesvirus-8. There is a paucity of data on the cause of death in patients with KS, especially the proportion of cardiovascular mortality. This study aimed to provide annual trends, demographic analysis, and cause of death analysis of KS in the United States.

METHODS

The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was used to collect data from 2000 to 2020 from 17 registries.

RESULTS

We identified 8247 patients with KS, with majority males (90.6%) and in the 40-59 age range (38.5%). More than half of the patients were single (53.8%). Hispanic patients constituted 23.9% of the population, while 23.1% were non-Hispanic Black patients. Overall, the incident burden of KS decreased, but there was no significant change in the incident burden of KS among females. Furthermore, no significant change in incident burden was observed among the Hispanic and Black populations. Similarly, annual incident burden among single and never-married individuals has been decreasing since 2014. Patients with KS and primarily cutaneous features (skin KS) have a favorable survival rate compared to those with visceral KS ( < 0.0001). Females, widowed, and Black/American Indian patients had a significantly worse prognosis ( < 0.0001). Married patients had better survival ( < 0.0001). Infectious causes constituted 49.8% of deaths, while 11.4% of deaths were cardiovascular-related. Cardiovascular deaths were significantly more common in females and Hispanic patients ( < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study provides significant insights into cardiovascular mortality among patients with KS and highlights annual trends, demographic distribution, and mortality rates.