Melanoma signature in Brazil: epidemiology, incidence, mortality, and trend lessons from a continental mixed population country in the past 15 years

Abstract

The current research aimed to understand melanoma epidemiology in Brazil and to evaluate temporal trends in incidence and mortality. The data came from Brazilian Hospital Cancer Registries, Population Based Cancer Registries, and the National Mortality Information System from 2000 to 2014. Descriptive statistics were used for epidemiological and clinical characteristics. To describe trends in change in incidence and mortality rates, the Average Annual Percentage Change (AAPC) was calculated. Between 2000 and 2013, in men, the median incidence rate rose from 2.52 to 4.84, with an AAPC of +21.5% [95% confidence interval (CI): 15.4–28] and in women from 1.93 to 3.22 per 100 000, with an AAPC of +13.9% (95% CI: 8.1–20). Regarding mortality, between 2000 and 2014, the rates went from 0.85 to 0.9 per 100 000 for men (AAPC=+0.8, 95% CI: 0.4–1.1) and from 0.56 for 0.53 per 100 000 for women (AAPC=−0.1, 95% CI: −0.2 to 0). From the database, a total of 28 624 patients with melanoma were included. Most of the patients were females (51.9%), White (75%) and with stage I or II (53.2%). Sex, ethnicity, education level, geographical area of the cancer center, topography, histology, time between diagnosis and treatment, and early death were significantly associated with distant metastases. Brazil is a large country with a very young population and a low rate of melanoma incidence and prevalence that should increase over the years. Understanding the trends attributed to melanoma is important for behavioral counseling interventions that focus on promoting skin cancer prevention.

Cutaneous melanoma in Argentina: an analysis of its characteristics and regional differences

“…Gender disparities by several characteristics were observed, suggesting that in Argentina as in many other countries, sex is an important risk for cutaneous melanoma development and prognosis with the risk being higher among males. In line with these results, a significant association between patients age at diagnosis and sex has been previously reported [19,20]. In the present study, males were, at the time of diagnosis, older than females.…”

Análise de prevalência e mortalidade associada ao melanoma cutâneo em pacientes atendidos em centro de referência no Oeste do estado de Santa Catarina, Brasil, de 2002 a 2016

“…Esses, por sua vez, seguem o mesmo padrão da Inglaterra 23 , país que originalmente contribuiu com a imigração dessas localidades. Também, considerando todo o território brasileiro, é observada maior frequência da doença em pacientes do sexo masculino 24 . Essa particularidade, de existir mais casos de MC em mulheres na região Oeste de Santa Catarina, pode ter relação com a colonização populacional que ocorreu principalmente por imigrantes da região da serra gaúcha, na grande maioria composta por descendentes de imigrantes alemães e italianos 18 .…”

Journey of the Patient With Melanoma: Understanding Resource Use and Bridging the Gap Between Dermatologist, Surgeon, and Oncologist in Different Health Care Systems

“…1 In Brazil, since the year 2000, the rates of melanoma have doubled, increasing from 2.52 to 4.84 per 100,000 population in men and from 1.93 to 3.22 per 100,000 population in women. 2 The treatment of cutaneous melanoma has undergone a number of changes over time, 3-5 which has resulted in changes in the clinical practice of managing this disease. Currently, in the Brazilian health care systems, a wide variety of clinical options are available as a result of inequality in scientific upgrades between institutions, the lack of consensus, the difference in the availability of resources between institutions, and the difficulty in gaining access to resources.…”

“…The term patient journey is often seen as being defined as the mapping of processes to identify the clinical trajectory of the patient and possible processes for improving health care delivery. Although previous studies have looked at the journey of patients with cancer using analyses of respective databases in other countries, 6-8 the health care system in Brazil has unique aspects, great heterogeneity between geographic regions, 2 and no centralized database with historical series of decision making in health care. Furthermore, whereas other studies have evaluated patients’ journey through the eyes of the patients, 8-11 this study assesses the opinions of three medical specialties.…”