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. 2016 Sep 15;139(6):1217-22.
doi: 10.1002/ijc.30157. Epub 2016 May 30.

Nevus count associations with pigmentary phenotype, histopathological melanoma characteristics and survival from melanoma

Nicholas J Taylor  1 , Nancy E Thomas  2 , Hoda Anton-Culver  3 , Bruce K Armstrong  4 , Colin B Begg  5 , Klaus J Busam  6 , Anne E Cust  4 , Terence Dwyer  7 , Lynn From  8 , Richard P Gallagher  9 , Stephen B Gruber  10 , Diane E Nishri  11 , Irene Orlow  5 , Stefano Rosso  12 , Alison J Venn  13 , Roberto Zanetti  12 , Marianne Berwick  14 , Peter A Kanetsky  1 ; GEM Study Group
Affiliations

Nevus count associations with pigmentary phenotype, histopathological melanoma characteristics and survival from melanoma

Nicholas J Taylor et al. Int J Cancer. .

Abstract

Although nevus count is an established risk factor for melanoma, relationships between nevus number and patient and tumor characteristics have not been well studied and the influence of nevus count on melanoma-specific survival is equivocal. Using data from the Genes, Environment and Melanoma (GEM) study, a large population-based study of primary cutaneous melanoma, we evaluated associations between number of nevi and patient features, including sun-sensitivity summarized in a phenotypic index, and tumor characteristics. We also assessed the association of nevus count with melanoma-specific survival. Higher nevus counts were independently and positively associated with male gender and younger age at diagnosis, and they were inversely associated with lentigo maligna histology. We observed a borderline significant trend of poorer melanoma-specific survival with increasing quartile of nevus count, but little or no association between number of nevi and pigmentary phenotypic characteristics or prognostic tumor features.

Keywords: disease-specific survival; melanoma; nevi; phenotypic characteristics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement: None declared.

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