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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Bertina M. Backus, MPH¹, Helen A. Hawk, PhD², and Susan T. Gershman, PhD¹. (1) Massachusetts Cancer Registry, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 250 Washington Street, 6th Floor, Boston, MA 02108-4619, (617)-624-5672, Bertina.Backus@dph.state.ma.us, (2) Health Survey Program, Department of Public Health, 250 Washington Street, 6th Floor, Boston, MA 02108-4619

The purpose of this project is to provide descriptive information about the incidence and mortality from cutaneous malignant melanoma in Massachusetts residents, using data from the Massachusetts Cancer Registry (MCR). Malignant melanoma cases were classified by sex, age, and stage at diagnosis. In situ cases were only included in analyses of incidence by stage. While melanoma incidence increased, the mortality rate remained stable over time with males being 2.0 times higher than females in the mortality trend. Age-specific melanoma incidence rates were substantially higher for the most recent time period 1998-2002, than for 1982-1986. During 1998-2002, male rates reached a peak of 118 per 100,000 in the age group 80-84, while female rates reached 45 per 100,000 in the age group 75-79. These rates increased with age for both males and females in Massachusetts, starting at the age of 40. Incidence rates for males were consistently higher than for females in both Massachusetts and SEER areas from 1982-2002. White, non-Hispanics had the highest melanoma rates of all racial/ethnic groups with 24.1 cases per 100,000. For both males and females, 87% of the melanoma cases were found when the cancer was still at the in situ or localized stages. The incidence of melanoma increased over the last twenty-one years in Massachusetts, yet this incidence was still lower than the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program areas up until 2001. This project produced a first assessment of long term incidence and mortality trends found for melanoma in Massachusetts.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe how the trends for developing melanoma and dying from melanoma are appearing in Massachusetts over 21 years.
• Discuss how melanoma cases are distributed among various samples of Massachusetts' population for five-year periods.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation