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. 2009 Jul;129(7):1666-74.
doi: 10.1038/jid.2008.423. Epub 2009 Jan 8.

Increasing burden of melanoma in the United States

Eleni Linos  1 , Susan M Swetter, Myles G Cockburn, Graham A Colditz, Christina A Clarke
Affiliations

Increasing burden of melanoma in the United States

Eleni Linos et al. J Invest Dermatol. 2009 Jul.

Abstract

It is controversial whether worldwide increases in melanoma incidence represent a true epidemic. Dramatic increases in incidence in the setting of relatively stable mortality trends have also been attributed to expanded skin screening and detection of biologically indolent tumors with low metastatic potential. To better understand how melanoma incidence trends varied by severity at diagnosis and factors relevant to screening access, we assessed recent United States incidence and mortality trends by histologic type, tumor thickness, and area-level socioeconomic status (SES). We obtained population-based data regarding diagnoses of invasive melanoma among non-Hispanic whites from nearly 291 million person-years of observation by the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program (1992-2004). Age-adjusted incidence and mortality rates were calculated for SEER and a subset (California) for which small-area SES measure was available. Overall, melanoma incidence increased at 3.1% (P<0.001) per year. Statistically significant rises occurred for tumors of all histologic subtypes and thicknesses, including those >4 mm. Melanoma incidence rates doubled in all SES groups over a 10-year period whereas melanoma mortality rates did not increase significantly. We conclude that screening-associated diagnosis of thinner melanomas cannot explain the increasing rates of thicker melanomas among low SES populations with poorer access to screening.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors state no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age adjusted incidence of malignant melanoma per 100,000 according to age and sex 1992–2004
Figure 2
Figure 2
Age adjusted mortality rates from melanoma per 100,000 according to age and sex 1990–2004
Figure 3
Figure 3
Age adjusted incidence of melanoma according to levels of SES (1–5) and by tumor thickness.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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