Melanoma overdiagnosis: What do we know and what do we do?

IF 1.6 4区医学 Q2 MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL

Australian Journal of General Practice Pub Date : 2024-09-01 DOI:10.31128/AJGP-02-24-7176

Simon Clark, Nikita Rosendahl, Cliff Rosendahl

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Melanoma overdiagnosis occurs when melanomas, not destined to cause morbidity or death in a patient's lifetime, are identified and treated.

Objective: This study considers the causes and magnitude of melanoma overdiagnosis in Australia. We also speculate about a possible benefit of overdiagnosis in Australia; namely, a reduction in excess deaths in the geographical areas where melanoma is diagnosed most frequently.

Discussion: Overdiagnosis can arguably be mitigated by factors that reduce the number of lesions treated for each melanoma identified. Data from the Australian Cancer Atlas show that there is a reduction in excess deaths from melanoma in geographical areas where diagnostic rates are higher (Pearson correlation coefficient r=-0.5978, 95% CI: -0.6243 to -0.5699, P<0.0001); this being the strongest inverse correlation observed among the 20 cancer types in the Atlas. Is early diagnosis of actual life-threatening melanomas in these geographical regions impacting survival? Further research is planned.

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黑色素瘤过度诊断：我们知道什么，我们该做什么？

背景：黑色素瘤过度诊断是指黑色素瘤在患者的一生中不会导致发病或死亡，但却被发现并接受治疗：黑色素瘤的过度诊断是指在患者一生中不会导致发病或死亡的黑色素瘤被发现并得到治疗：本研究探讨了澳大利亚黑色素瘤过度诊断的原因和严重程度。我们还推测了过度诊断在澳大利亚可能带来的益处，即在黑色素瘤诊断率最高的地区减少过多死亡：讨论：可以说，过度诊断可以通过减少每例黑色素瘤的治疗病灶数量来缓解。澳大利亚癌症地图集》（Australian Cancer Atlas）的数据显示，在诊断率较高的地理区域，黑色素瘤导致的超额死亡人数有所减少（皮尔逊相关系数 r=-0.5978，95% CI：-0.6243 至-0.5699，P＜0.05）。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Australian Journal of General Practice Medicine-Family Practice

CiteScore

2.80

自引率

4.50%

发文量

284

期刊介绍： The Australian Journal of General Practice (AJGP) aims to provide relevant, evidence-based, clearly articulated information to Australian general practitioners (GPs) to assist them in providing the highest quality patient care, applicable to the varied geographic and social contexts in which GPs work and to all GP roles as clinician, researcher, educator, practice team member and opinion leader. All articles are subject to peer review before they are accepted for publication.