Relationship between Melanoma Stage at the Diagnosis and Survival During a period of 30 Years (1982-2011)

Abstract

Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes, and is a potentially aggressive cancer. The incidence of melanoma is rising at a greater rate than any other cancer in the U.S. The aim of this study was to examine the association between melanoma stage at the time of diagnosis and survival among U.S. adult melanoma patients during 1982-2011. This was a secondary analysis of a non-concurrent cohort study conducted on 185219 U.S. adult patients who were diagnosed with primary cutaneous melanoma between 1982-2011. Chi-square, Kaplan-Meier, and Cox proportional hazards regression were used to analyze the data. Significance was assessed using p-value and 95% confidence interval. Men had more cutaneous melanoma. Black non-Hispanic patients were diagnosed less frequently. Patients who were married or in a domestic partnership were most likely to be diagnosed. The adjusted HR for distant melanoma was 141-fold that of in situ (95% CI 126.38-157.19). The adjusted HR was the highest in the first decade of diagnosis (1.7; 95% CI 1.6 1.75). In conclusion, survival is highly affected by melanoma stage at diagnosis. Black non-Hispanic patients had the lowest hazard ratio of all races. The sample size was large, which enhances the generalizability to the U.S. population.