U.S. adolescent malignant melanoma nearly halved during 2000-2014

SAN DIEGO – U.S. incidence rates of malignant melanoma in adolescents fell by nearly half during 2000-2014, based on information from a National Cancer Institute database.

The substantial drop in new cases of malignant melanoma in Americans aged 10-19 years over the most recent 15-year period with data available contrasts with a stable rate among children aged 0-9 years, and a steadily rising rate among adults during the same period, Ryan C. Kelm said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Mitchel L. Zoler/Frontline Medical News

The findings also confirmed that malignant melanoma is significantly more common in girls, regardless of whether they are aged 0-9 years, or 10-19 years. In addition, girls aged 10-19 years have significantly better 5-year relative survival, compared with boys that age, with rates of 97% and 93%, respectively, said Mr. Kelm, a researcher in the department of dermatology at Northwestern University, Chicago. Relative survival after 5 years among girls and boys aged 0-9 years was 94%. These rates were up from those reported for 2001 in the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) Program, when 5-year relative survival was 89% among all children and 92% among all adolescents (J Clin Oncol. 2005 July 20;23[21]:4735-41).

Mr. Kelm and his associates studied U.S. data compiled from 2000 to 2014 by the SEER Program, maintained by the National Cancer Institute. They identified 1,796 patients aged 0-19 years diagnosed with malignant melanoma (218 children and 1,578 adolescents). The overall incidence rate for the entire 15-year period was just over 1 case per million among children and just under 9 cases per million among adolescents. In contrast, the adult U.S. incidence rate estimates for 2018 are pegged at 260 per million among non-Hispanic whites, 40 per million among Hispanics, and 10 per million among black Americans, according to the American Cancer Society.