Incidence of cutaneous childhood melanoma in Queensland, Australia.

Abstract

The incidence of cutaneous melanoma in children aged 0-14 years was examined in Queensland, Australia. Details of notifications were collected from the population-based Australian Paediatric Cancer Registry. Between 1987 and 1994, the age-adjusted incidence rates of invasive cutaneous melanoma occurring in Queensland children were estimated at 8.5/million for males and 7.1/million for females. Incidence rates rose steeply in both sexes with increasing age, from less than 1/million in the 0-4 age group, to nearly 30/million in the 10-14 age group. To assess the uniformity of the anatomical distribution of lesions, relative tumour densities (RTDs) were calculated compared with the body as a whole. In both sexes, melanomas were most common on the trunk (RTD > 3), while lower limb lesions were less common (RTD < 0.6) and no melanomas were reported on the buttocks or external genitalia. Although not statistically significant, there was a tendency for truncal lesions in males to occur on the back, while in females, truncal melanomas were more evenly distributed across the chest, back and shoulders. No consistent relationship between latitude and melanoma incidence was observed, with higher rates reported in the subtropical than the tropical regions of Queensland. These are the first reported incidence rates of cutaneous melanoma in Australian children and are the highest ever reported in the world in this age group. Our findings provide baseline data from which to monitor changes in the occurrence of cutaneous melanoma in children.