The Relationship Between HIV and Kaposi Sarcoma

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Explanation of Main Results

This paper investigated the nature of the relationship between HIV and Kaposi Sarcoma. The findings of this paper showed that rare skin cancer was the HIV-defining condition in only 48.7% of the cases sampled. Comparatively, 51.3% of the cases sampled did not show a direct correlation between HIV and Kaposi Sarcoma. These details emerged in the case study summary, which showed that the percentage of female participants suffering from HIV disease, but did not have Kaposi Sarcoma was 60.5%. This is a relatively larger percentage of people compared to 39.5% of people who suffered from HIV and Kaposi Sarcoma. Comparatively, an analysis of male respondents showed a different pattern because there were higher percentages of people (57.5%) who suffered from HIV and Kaposi Sarcoma, as opposed to the number of people who suffered from HIV, but not Kaposi Sarcoma (42.5%). Nonetheless, collectively, these statistics show that there were higher numbers of cases where the participants suffered from Kaposi Sarcoma, but were free from HIV. Similarly, there were high numbers of cases where patients suffered from HIV but were free from Kaposi Sarcoma. Comprehensively, we could say that the relationship between Kaposi Sarcoma and HIV is weak. Since there were only 12 cases where the participants had HIV and Kaposi Sarcoma, at the same time, it is possible to affirm this fact. Stated differently, compared to the statistics highlighted above, the number of people suffering from both HIV and Kaposi Sarcoma was small.

Statistical Significance of the Results

Since this study investigated the relationship between Kaposi Sarcoma and HIV across both genders and varied age groups (the respondents were between 1 year and 64 years), its findings were valid, transferable and reliable across the above-mentioned metrics. The t-test revealed that the mean differences between both sets of blood pressures were statistically insignificant. The findings of the ANOVA test also yielded the same result. Findings from Levenes test revealed that there was an insignificant variation in the two groups. Stated differently, the significance value was greater than 0.05.

Social Change Implications of the Research

HIV and Kaposi Sarcoma affect millions of people around the world. When untreated, both conditions could cause death. As seen in some sections of this paper, many researchers have struggled to explain the relationship between both variables (Crosetti & Succo, 2013). Although most of their findings indicated that both variables shared a significant relationship, the researchers failed to include the effect of modern HIV therapies on the relationship. Particularly, they failed to consider the effects of ARV therapies on the predisposition of HIV patients to Kaposi Sarcoma. This research has proved that the therapy affects the relationship between both variables because it improves peoples immune systems, thereby making them less vulnerable to rare skin cancer. Based on the success of ARVs in reducing the incidence of Kaposi Sarcoma among HIV patients, it is plausible to propose that the therapy should be a preventive treatment against Kaposi Sarcoma. Similarly, it should be a first line of treatment for HIV-infected people who have early stage Kaposi Sarcoma.

Suggestions for Future Research

ARV therapy is a plausible health management tool that would allow HIV patients to treat or manage Kaposi Sarcoma. This treatment option is one among a line of other treatment options for Kaposi Sarcoma. For example, researchers have proposed local therapy and topical retinoid as alternative health management tools for Kaposi Sarcoma (Rose & Harris, 2015). Furthermore, their studies have shown that these treatment options (including ARV therapies) have varied effects on patients who have different types of Kaposi sarcoma (Rose & Harris, 2015). Particularly, they have shown that these treatment options are more effective on patients who suffer from endemic Kaposi Sarcoma. Based on these findings, it is important to understand the effects of these alternative treatment options for HIV patients, or patients who suffer from both HIV and Kaposi Sarcoma. For example, future research should investigate if these treatment options affect the relationship between Kaposi Sarcoma and HIV, the way ARV therapies do.

Summary of Final Project

Explanation of Final Project (Variables and Types of Statistical Tests)

In this paper, I sought to find out the nature of the relationship between Kaposi Sarcoma and HIV. The null hypothesis stated that HIV shared no correlation with Kaposi Sarcoma. Comparatively, the alternative hypothesis stated that HIV shared a direct correlation with Kaposi Sarcoma. Using Kaposi Sarcoma as the independent variable and HIV as the dependent variable, I recorded the systolic blood pressures of 78 participants and analyzed the results using SPSS. This data analysis tool showed that both variables shared an insignificant relationship.

Analysis and Significance of the Results

The insignificant relationship between HIV and Kaposi sarcoma is eye-opening because past studies have often shown that both variables share a positive correlation (Crosetti & Succo, 2013). For example, the literature review showed that most researchers attributed the increased cases of Kaposi Sarcoma, in America, to the increased spread of HIV in the country (Khammissa, Pantanowitz, & Feller, 2012). Furthermore, the same researchers showed that more than 25% of HIV people developed Kaposi Sarcoma in their lifetimes (Venkataraman, 2013). Findings from the American Cancer Society (2014) further affirmed these findings by stating that AIDS often predisposes its victims to opportunistic infections and unusual neoplasm, which increases their predisposition to Kaposi Sarcoma.

Based on the findings emerging from this study, we see that Kaposi Sarcoma and HIV have a weak relationship. The increased use of anti-retroviral therapy could explain this disparity. Rose and Harris (2015) support this view because they stated that All therapies for Kaposi sarcoma (Kaposis sarcoma, KS) have been markedly influenced by HAART (highly active anti-retroviral therapy), which has decreased the incidence and severity of this disease (p. 1). Based on this assertion, researchers agree that ARV use has dramatically changed the clinical course of Kaposi Sarcoma (Rose and Harris, 2015). This is why some medical journals propose it as the first line of treatment for the rare skin condition (Khammissa et al., 2012). When used, patients could have a response rate of up to 80%, depending on the level of disease progression (Rose & Harris, 2015). However, isolated findings show that most patients who have a poor-risk response to Kaposi Sarcoma rarely enjoy positive health outcomes when using highly active anti-retroviral therapy (Khammissa et al., 2012; Rose & Harris, 2015).

Additional Statistical Tests that May Help to Investigate the Variables of Interest

In the future, researchers should consider using observation as an alternative data gathering method for recording data over long periods. It would similarly be interesting to know if we could come up with different findings using alternative data analysis techniques, such as coding.

References

American Cancer Society. (2014). Kaposi Sarcoma. Web.

Crosetti, E., & Succo, G. (2013). Non-human immunodeficiency virus-related Kaposis sarcoma of the oropharynx: a case report and review of the literature. Journal of Medical Case Reports, 7(293), 16-23.

Khammissa, R., Pantanowitz, L., & Feller, L. (2012). Oral HIV-Associated Kaposi Sarcoma:A Clinical Study from the Ga-Rankuwa Area, South Africa. AIDS Research and Treatment, 2012(873171), 1-9.

Rose, L., & Harris, J. (2015). Kaposi Sarcoma Treatment & Management. Web.

Venkataraman, G., Uldrick, T., Aleman, K., Mahony, D., Karcher, D., Steinberg, S., & Raffeld, M. (2013). Bone Marrow Findings in HIV-Positive Patients With Kaposi Sarcoma HerpesvirusAssociated Multicentric Castleman Disease. American Journal of Clinical Pathology, 139(1), 651-661.

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