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. 2021 Sep 8;10(18):4059.
doi: 10.3390/jcm10184059.

COVID-19-Induced Reduction in Primary Melanoma Diagnoses: Experience from a Dermatopathology Referral Center

Magdalena Hoellwerth  1 , Andreas Kaiser  2 , Michael Emberger  3 , Matthias Brandlmaier  1 , Martin Laimer  1 , Alexander Egger  1 , Johann W Bauer  1 , Peter Koelblinger  1
Affiliations

COVID-19-Induced Reduction in Primary Melanoma Diagnoses: Experience from a Dermatopathology Referral Center

Magdalena Hoellwerth et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

The collateral damage caused by COVID-19 pandemic-associated public health and governmental measures on patient care has been increasingly assessed in various oncological and non-oncological clinical settings. In order to investigate potential adverse effects in the field of melanoma the present study analyzed the characteristics of primary melanoma diagnoses at an Austrian dermato-pathological referral center before, during, and after the first coronavirus-related lockdown in March 2020. As suspected, we found significant temporary reductions in the number of newly diagnosed melanomas in 2020 compared to previous years, in particular, during the first lockdown period.

Keywords: COVID-19; melanoma; pandemic.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of melanoma cases 2018 versus 2020. A significant difference was detected for the first pre-lockdown period I (11 January–8 February), lockdown period I (16 March–13 April), and post-lockdown period I (14 April–12 May).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of melanoma cases 2019 versus 2020. Significant differences were detected in the lockdown period I (16 March–13 April).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Number of diagnosed primary melanomas per week (mean of 2018 and 2019 compared to 2020). A marked decline in weekly melanoma diagnoses can be observed shortly after governmental lockdown measures were implemented in March 2020.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Percentage of ulcerated melanomas diagnosed in (a) 2018/2019 and (b) 2020 depicted in red; 4.9%, 4.3%, and 8.3% of all melanomas diagnosed in 2018, 2019 and 2020 were ulcerated (p = 0.043 for 2018 vs. 2020, p = 0.012 for 2019 vs. 2020).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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