The incidence of distant metastasis was much higher in patients with CHD1L overexpression than those with CHD1L normal expression for all patients (56.9% vs. 43.1%, P < 0.001); however, in subgroup analysis, this significant association was only seen in ADC patients (P < 0.001) and not in SCC patients (P = 0.162). Here, CHD1L is linked to AIDS dementia complex.