Melanoma incidence, prevalence have increased in US in recent decades
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While melanoma incidence and prevalence in the U.S. increased between 1990 and 2019, mortality rates remained stable over that time, according to findings from a mathematical model.
Pushkar Aggarwal, MBA, 1st Lt., of the college of medicine at the University of Cincinnati and a collaborator on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study, and colleagues aimed to assess the burden of skin cancer in the U.S. between 1990 and 2019.
Using findings from the Global Burden of Disease study in 2019, they evaluated for age-standardized incidence, prevalence, disability-adjusted life years (DALY) and mortality rates from skin cancer in the U.S.
Melanoma incidence was 17 cases per 100,000 individuals in 2019, while prevalence was reported at 138 per 100,000, DALY at 64.8 per 100,000 and mortality at 2.2 per 100,000.
Turning to squamous cell carcinoma rates per 100,000 individuals, incidence was 262, prevalence was 314, DALY was 26.6 and mortality was 0.8.
Basal cell carcinoma had an incidence rate of 525 per 100,000 individuals, while prevalence was 51.2, DALY was 0.2 and mortality was 0 per 100,000.
Looking more broadly, the findings showed that the incidence and prevalence of melanoma, BCC and SCC increased over the 30-year study duration.
The researchers noted that in the last half decade, the burden for all three cancers, as assessed by DALY, has remained stable. Moreover, mortality from melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer has remained largely unchanged.
Across all parameters that underwent analysis — incidence, prevalence, DALY and mortality — men had higher rates than women in every year since 1990.
Geographic data showed that melanoma had higher incidence and prevalence in the northern U.S. compared with the southern part of the country.
The study was limited by the fact that the Global Burden of Disease is “derived from estimation and mathematical modeling,” according to the findings.
“Health care professionals can utilize differences and trends noted in this study to guide allocation of resources to reduce incidence and morbidity from skin cancer,” Aggarwal and colleagues wrote.