Abstract
BackgroundCutaneous melanoma (CM) is one of the most fatal types of skin cancer. Alarmingly, increases in incidence and mortality were noted globally for this malignancy, despite increase in understanding of melanoma pathogenesis and enhanced prevention efforts.MethodsData was extracted for CM patients for provinces and territories (except Quebec) using two independent, population-based registries. Analysis was performed using both clinical and pathological characteristics: tumor morphologic classification, age, sex, anatomic site affected and place of residence. Mortality trends were assessed over a 7-year period. Results were compared to prior findings for 1992–2010.ResultsDuring 2011–2017 39,610 patients were diagnosed with CM, with 5,890 reported deaths. National crude CM incidence was 20.75 (age-standardized incidence: 14.12) cases per 100,000 individuals per year. Females accounted for 45.8% of cases and 37.1% of deaths. While CM incidence rates continue to increase in both sexes, since 2013 the CM mortality is declining. We observed important differences across the provinces/territories, where Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, southern Ontario/British Columbia and certain coastal communities of New Brunswick demonstrated higher CM incidence and mortality rates. The observed incidence and mortality trends for 2011–2017 validate and extend earlier observations from 1992 to 2010 for CM.ConclusionThis population-based study highlights that while melanoma's incidence is increasing in Canada, mortality rates are for the first time decreasing since 2013. We detail regional distribution of this cancer highlighting communities in southern/coastal areas, as being most at risk as well as the latest trends of melanoma incidence by age, sex and anatomic site. In males, melanoma is more common on the head/trunk, while in females on the extremities. Notably, Acral Lentiginous Melanoma was the only CM subtype that was more common in females, which primarily affects hands and feet.
Highlights
Cutaneous melanoma (CM) causes more deaths than any other skin cancer [1], accounting for ∼1.9 and 1.2% of all cancer deaths in males and females, respectively, in Canada [2]
We examined the data on the incidence and mortality of CM using two distinct population-based cancer databases: the Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR) and Canadian Vital Statistics (CVS) for the period of 2011–2017 using the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology ICD-O-3 and ICD10 codes for all subtypes of CM (Supplementary Table 1), as previously reported [10–33]
Geographic maps of Canada divided by forward sortation area (FSA) codes indicating the residence of patients with CM documented by the CCR or CVS databases were generated using geographic information systems software (ArcMap 10.4; Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, Calif) [10, 22, 23]
Summary
Cutaneous melanoma (CM) causes more deaths than any other skin cancer [1], accounting for ∼1.9 and 1.2% of all cancer deaths in males and females, respectively, in Canada [2]. There were ∼290,000 new cases of CM in 2018 [3]. Countries with the highest incidence rate per capita include Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden and Germany [3]. There was a 44% increase in the incidence rate of CM between 2008 and 2018, with a corresponding surge of 32% in mortality [3]. The incidence rate was further linked to the ongoing climate crisis, as depletion in ozone layer was correlated with subsequent increase in CM incidence [3]. Cutaneous melanoma (CM) is one of the most fatal types of skin cancer. Increases in incidence and mortality were noted globally for this malignancy, despite increase in understanding of melanoma pathogenesis and enhanced prevention efforts
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