Linkage of death certification of AIDS and cancer registration in Vaud, Switzerland.

58 death certifications (40 males and 18 females) of residents of the Canton of Vaud (Switzerland) which reported AIDS as the cause of death in 1986-1989 were matched with the list of incident cancers available since 1974 from the Vaud Cancer Registry. Such linkage was successful for 20 individuals (age range 25-63, median 37), mostly males (18/20), homosexual or bisexual (11/18) and affected by Kaposi's sarcoma (14 males and 1 female). Other identified neoplasms included one Burkitt's lymphoma, one prostate adenocarcinoma and one multiple myeloma (whose histological picture included, however, lymphocytosis in addition to plasmocytosis). Three additional malignancies (one undifferentiated skin cancer, one carcinoma of the salivary glands and one in situ cervical carcinoma), and one myelodysplastic syndrome had also been diagnosed from 1 to 2 years before AIDS death. Cancer was mentioned on the death certificate, in addition to AIDS, in only 2 cases. Albeit of limited size, the present report confirms that a systematic integration of AIDS and cancer registration statistics provides additional information, of particular interest for histological classification, on the AIDS-cancer relationship.