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Global Incidence, Mortality, Risk Factors and Trends of Melanoma: A Systematic Analysis of Registries

  • Original Research Article
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American Journal of Clinical Dermatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Melanoma of the skin is the most dangerous skin cancer in the world, though the numbers of reported new cases and melanoma-related deaths are low.

Objective

This study evaluated the global incidence, mortality, risk factors and temporal trends by age, sex and locations of melanoma skin cancer.

Patients and Methods

Cancer Incidence in Five Continents (CI5) volumes I–XI; the Nordic Cancer Registries (NORDCAN); the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program; and the World Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) mortality database were accessed for worldwide incidence and mortality rates. Average Annual Percentage Change (AAPC) was calculated using a Joinpoint regression to examine trends.

Results

Age-standardized rates of cancer incidence and mortality were 3.4 and 0.55 per 100,000 worldwide in 2020. Australia and New Zealand reported the highest incidence and mortality rates. Associated risk factors included higher prevalence of smoking, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet, obesity and metabolic diseases. Increasing incidence trends were observed mostly in European countries, whilst mortality displayed an overall decreasing trend. For both sexes in the age group 50 years and above, a significant increase in incidence trend was observed.

Conclusions

Although mortality rates and trends were found to decrease, global incidence has increased, especially in older age groups and males. Whilst incidence increase may be attributed to improved healthcare infrastructure and cancer detection methods, the growing prevalence of lifestyle and metabolic risk factors in developed countries should not be discounted. Future research should explore underlying variables behind epidemiological trends.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Junjie Huang, Sze Chai Chan, Samantha Ko & Martin C. S. Wong

  2. Centre for Health Education and Health Promotion, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Junjie Huang & Martin C. S. Wong

  3. Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institute, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

    Veeleah Lok

  4. School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Lin Zhang

  5. School of Public Health, The Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    Lin Zhang & Martin C. S. Wong

  6. Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Xu Lin

  7. Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom

    Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III

  8. School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Wanghong Xu

  9. Department of Global Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Zhi-Jie Zheng & Martin C. S. Wong

  10. University of the Philippines, Manila, The Philippines

    Edmar Elcarte

  11. Department of Population and Health Sciences, Institute for Global Health, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

    Mellissa Withers

Authors
  1. Junjie Huang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martin C. S. Wong.

Ethics declarations

Funding

No external funding was used in the preparation of this manuscript.

Competing interests

Junjie Huang, Sze Chai Chan, Samantha Ko, Veeleah Lok, Lin Zhang, Xu Lin, Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III, Wanghong Xu, Zhi-Jie Zheng, Edmar Elcarte, Mellissa Withers and Martin CS Wong declare that they have no conflicts of interest that might be relevant to the contents of this manuscript.

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Survey and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (No. SBRE-20-332).

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Data availability statement

The data used for the analyses are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author. The datasets supporting the conclusions of this article are included within the article and its additional files.

Code availability

Not applicable.

Transparency statement

The lead author (the manuscript’s guarantor) affirms that the manuscript is an honest, accurate and transparent account of the study being reported; that no important aspects of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the study as originally planned (and, if relevant, registered) have been explained.

Author contributions

JH and MCSW contributed conceptualization and supervision; JH and SCC contributed data curation and formal analysis; SCC and SK contributed manuscript drafting; VL, LZ, XL, DELP, WX, ZJZ, EE, MW and MCSW contributed manuscript review and editing. The corresponding author attests that all listed authors meet authorship criteria and that no others meeting the criteria have been omitted.

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Huang, J., Chan, S.C., Ko, S. et al. Global Incidence, Mortality, Risk Factors and Trends of Melanoma: A Systematic Analysis of Registries. Am J Clin Dermatol 24, 965–975 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40257-023-00795-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40257-023-00795-3

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