Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Patterns of increased incidence and survival of cutaneous melanoma in Girona (Spain) 1994–2013: a population-based study

  • Brief Research Article
  • Published:
Clinical and Translational Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

We conducted a population-based study on the Girona Cancer Registry (Spain) for the period 1994–2013 to determine patterns of change in the incidence of melanoma, which is increasing in many countries, and patient survival in our geographical area.

Materials and methods

Using the standard registration rules for cancer registries, we calculated crude and standardized incidence rates as well as their trends. We also analysed the observed survival, 1-year conditioned survival and relative survival at 3, 5 and 10 years.

Results

Our crude incidence rate was 9.13 cases/100,000 inhabitants for invasive and 2.59 for “in situ” melanomas. A statistically significant increase in incidence was found for melanomas of less than 1 mm in Breslow index and in males. 10-year observed and relative survival rates were 64.1 and 83.1%, respectively.

Conclusions

We found an increasing trend in the incidence of low-risk melanoma and a survival rate similar to that reported elsewhere in Europe.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. De Vries E, Bray FI, Coebergh JW, Parkin DM. Changing epidemiology of malignant cutaneous melanoma in Europe 1953–1997: rising trends in incidence and mortality but recent stabilizations in western Europe and decreases in Scandinavia. Int J Cancer. 2003;107(1):119–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Marcos-Gragera R, Vilar-Coromina N, Galceran J, Borras J, Cleries R, Ribes J, Gispert R, Izquierdo A, Borràs JM. Rising trends in incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma and their future projections in Catalonia, Spain: increasing impact or future epidemic? J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2010;24(9):1083–8.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Hollestein LM, van den Akker SAW, Nijsten T, Karim-Kos HE, Coebergh JW, de Vries E. Trends of cutaneous melanoma in The Netherlands: increasing incidence rates among all Breslow thickness categories and rising mortality rates since 1989. Ann Oncol. 2012;23:524–30.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Bay C, Trannerg-Kejs AM, Storm HH, Engholm G. Incidence and survival in patients with cutaneous melanoma by morphology, anatomical site and TNM stage: a Danish population-based register study 1989–2011. Cancer Epidemiol. 2015;39(1):1–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Padrik P, Valter A, Valter E, Baburin A, Innos K. Trends in incidence and survival of cutaneous malignant melanoma in Estonia: a population-based study. Acta Oncol. 2017;56(1):52–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Minini R, Rohrmann S, Braun R, Korol D, Dehler S. Incidence trends and clinical-pathological characteristics of invasive cutaneous melanoma from 1980 to 2010 in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Melanoma Res. 2017;27(2):145–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Héry C, Tryggvadóttir L, Sigurdsson T, Olafsdóttir E, Sigurgeirsson B, Jonasson JG, Olafsson JH, Boniol M, Byrnes GB, Doré JF, Autier P. A melanoma epidemic in Iceland: possible influence of sunbed use. Am J Epidemiol. 2010;172:762–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Crocetti E, Caldarella A, Chiarugi A, Nardini P, Zappa M. The thickness of melanomas has decreased in central Italy, but only for thin melanomas, while thick melanomas are as thick as in the past. Melanoma Res. 2010;20(5):422–6.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Arnold M, Holterhues C, Hollestein LM, Coebergh JW, Nijsten T, Pukkala E, Holleczek B, Tryggvadóttir L, Comber H, Bento MJ, Diba ChS, Micallef R, Primic-Žakelj M, Izarzugaza MI, Perucha J, Marcos-Gragera R, Galceran J, Ardanaz E, Schaffar R, Pring A, de Vries E. Trends in incidence and predictions of cutaneous melanoma across Europe up to 2015. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2014;28(9):1170–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Leiter U, Garbe C. Epidemiology of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer—the role of sunlight. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2008;624:89–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Green AC, Williams GM, Logan V, Strutton GM. Reduced melanoma after regular sunscreen use: randomized trial follow-up. J Clin Oncol. 2011;29(3):257–63.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Erdmann F, Lortet-Tieulent J, Schüz J, Zeeb H, Greinert R, Breitbart EW, Bray F. International trends in the incidence of malignant melanoma 1953–2008—are recent generations at higher or lower risk? Int J Cancer. 2013;132(2):385–400.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Bordoni A, Leoni-Parvex S, Peverelli S, Mazzola P, Mazzucchelli L, Spitale A. Opportunistic screening strategy for cutaneous melanoma does not change the incidence of nodular and thick lesions nor reduce mortality: a population-based descriptive study in the European region with the highest incidence. Melanoma Res. 2013;23(5):402–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Kim HJ, Fay MP, Feuer EJ, Midthune DN. Permutation tests for joinpoint regression with applications to cancer rates. Stat Med. 2000;19:335–51 (correction: 2001;20:655).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Esteve J, Benhamou E, Croasdale M, Raymond L. Relative survival and the estimation of net survival. Elements for further discussion. Stat Med. 1990;9:529–38.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Sacchetto L, Zanetti R, Comber H, Bouchardy C, Brewster DH, Broganelli P, Chirlaque MD, Coza D, Galceran J, Gavin A, Hackl M, Katalinic A, Larønningen S, Louwman MWJ, Morgan E, Robsahm TE, Sanchez MJ, Tryggvadóttir L, Tumino R, Van Eycken E, Vernon S, Zadnik V, Rosso S. Trends in incidence of thick, thin and in situ melanoma in Europe. Eur J Cancer. 2018;92:108–18.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Elmore JG, Barnhill RL, Elder DE, Longton GM, Pepe MS, Reisch LM, Carney PA, Titus LJ, Nelson HD, Onega T, Tosteson ANA, Weinstock MA, Knezevich SR, Piepkorn MW. Pathologists’ diagnosis of invasive melanoma and melanocytic proliferations: observer accuracy and reproducibility study. BMJ. 2017;357:j2813.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Puig S, Marcoval J, Paradelo C, Azon A, Bartralot R, Bel S, Bigata X, Boada A, Campoy A, Carrera C, Curco N, Dalmau J, Ferrandiz C, Ferreres JR, Formigon M, Gallardo F, Gonzalez A, Just M, Llistosella E, Marti RM, Nogues E, Pedragosa R, Pujol JA, Roldán-Marín R, Sabat M, Salleras M, Smandia JA, Zaballos P, Plana E, Malvehy J. Melanoma incidence increase in the elderly of Catalonia with stabilization of incidence in the younger population: effect of prevention or consequence of immigration? Acta Derm Venereol. 2015;95(4):422–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Galceran J, Uhry Z, Marcos-Gragera R, Borràs J, the GRELL EUROCARE-5 Working Group. Trends in net survival from skin malignant melanoma in six European Latin countries: results from the SUDCAN population-based study. Eur J Cancer Prev. 2017;26:s77–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Crocetti E, Fancelli L, Manneschi G, Caldarella A, Pimpinelli N, Chiarugi A, Nardini P, Buzzoni C. Melanoma survival: sex does matter, but we do not know how. Eur J Cancer Prev. 2016;25(5):404–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Schoffer O, Schülein S, Arand G, Arnholdt H, Baaske D, Bargou RC, Becker N, Beckmann MW, Bodack Y, Böhme B, Bozkurt T, Breitsprecher R, Buchali A, Burger E, Burger U, Dommisch K, Elsner G, Fernschild K, Flintzer U, Funke U, Gerken M, Göbel H, Grobe N, Gumpp V, Heinzerling L, Kempfer LR, Kiani A, Klinkhammer-Schalke M, Klöcking S, Kreibich U, Knabner K, Kuhn P, Lutze S, Mäder U, Maisel T, Maschke J, Middeke M, Neubauer A, Niedostatek A, Opazo-Saez A, Peters C, Schell B, Schenkirsch G, Schmalenberg H, Schmidt P, Schneider C, Schubotz B, Seide A, Strecker P, Taubenheim S, Wackes M, Weiß S, Welke C, Werner C, Wittekind C, Wulff J, Zettl H, Klug SJ. Tumour stage distribution and survival of malignant melanoma in Germany 2002–2011. BMC Cancer. 2016;16:936–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Tryggvadóttir L, Gislum M, Hakulinen T, Klint A, Engholm G, Storm HH, Bray F. Trends in the survival of patients diagnosed with malignant melanoma of the skin in the Nordic countries 1964–2003 followed up to the end of 2006. Acta Oncol. 2010;49:665–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Heppt MV, Dietrich C, Graf SA, Ruzicka T, Tietze JK, Berking C. The systemic management of advanced melanoma in 2016. Oncol Res Treat. 2016;39(10):635–42.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Allemani C, Matsuda T, Di Carlo V, Harewood R, Matz M, Nikšić M, Bonaventure A, Valkov M, Johnson CJ, Estève J, Ogunbiyi OJ, Azevedo e Silva G, Chen WQ, Eser S, Engholm G, Stiller CA, Monnereau A, Woods RR, Visser O, Lim GH, Aitken J, Weir HK, Coleman MP, the CONCORD Working Group. Global surveillance of trends in cancer survival 2000–14 (CONCORD-3): analysis of individual records for 37 513 025 patients diagnosed with one of 18 cancers from 322 population-based registries in 71 countries. The Lancet. 2018;391(10125):1023–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Barney Griffiths for reviewing the English grammar of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Oncology Department, Hospital Josep Trueta, Catalan Institute of Oncology of Girona, Av. França s/n, 17005, Girona, Spain

    J. Rubió-Casadevall & A. Carbó-Bagué

  2. Descriptive Epidemiology, Genetics and Cancer Prevention Group, Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI), Girona, Spain

    J. Rubió-Casadevall, M. Puig-Vives, M. Puigdemont, L. Vilardell, R. Marcos-Gragera & N. Vilar-Coromina

  3. School of Medicine, University of Girona (UdG), Girona, Spain

    J. Rubió-Casadevall, R. Marcos-Gragera & N. Vilar-Coromina

  4. Epidemiology Unit and Girona Cancer Registry, Oncology Coordination Plan Department of Health Government of Catalonia, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Girona, Spain

    M. Puig-Vives, L. Vilardell & R. Marcos-Gragera

  5. University Hospital Josep Trueta Cancer Registry Coordinator, Catalan Institute of Oncology of Girona, Girona, Spain

    M. Puigdemont

  6. School of Nursery, University of Girona (UdG), Girona, Spain

    M. Puigdemont

  7. Dermatology Department, University Hospital Josep Trueta, Catalan Institute of Health, Girona, Spain

    N. Vilar-Coromina

Authors
  1. J. Rubió-Casadevall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. Puig-Vives
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M. Puigdemont
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. L. Vilardell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. A. Carbó-Bagué
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. R. Marcos-Gragera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. N. Vilar-Coromina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

JR-C designed and coordinated the study and wrote the manuscript. MP-V performed the statistical analysis. MP and LV collected all case data at GCR. RM-G, AC-B and NV-C contributed to the design of the study and analysis and interpretation of data. All authors drafted the article, revised it critically and approved its final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Rubió-Casadevall.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

This study was carried out using anonymized data from the Girona Cancer Registry (GCR), which complies with the legal regulations in Law for Data Protection and management of clinical data in force in Spain. The GCR also belongs to and complies with the regulations of the International Association of Cancer Registries and the International Association for Research in Cancer (IARC) Cancer Registry (IACR) and the International Association for Cancer. No intervention has been performed on human or animal subjects.

Informed consent

Informed consent is not necessary for this type of study or epidemiological purposes. All procedures have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. This research did not receive any specific grants from public, commercial or not-for-profit funding agencies.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rubió-Casadevall, J., Puig-Vives, M., Puigdemont, M. et al. Patterns of increased incidence and survival of cutaneous melanoma in Girona (Spain) 1994–2013: a population-based study. Clin Transl Oncol 20, 1617–1625 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-018-1900-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-018-1900-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation