The Western Australian Melanoma Health Study: study design and participant characteristics

Cutaneous malignant melanoma is a major public health issue in Australia and other nations. A greater understanding of the genetic determinants and their interactions with environmental factors may lead to better interventions and control of the disease. The Western Australian Melanoma Health Study (WAMHS) is a population-based case-collection and biospecimen resource established to investigate the genetic epidemiology of melanoma. This manuscript discusses the design of the WAMHS and the characteristics of the participants.

Participants were recruited through the Western Australian Cancer Registry, which is notified of all incident cancers in the state of Western Australia by law. Once the diagnosing doctor's consent was obtained, all eligible, resident Western Australian, adult cases of melanoma diagnosed between January 2006 and September 2009, were contacted by mail and invited to participate. Clinical, questionnaire-based phenotypic and blood samples for extraction of DNA, RNA and serum were collected from consenting cases. Clinical data consisted of all pathological data recorded by the cancer registry and the questionnaire, administered by telephone interview, covered major risk factors for melanoma, such as sun exposure history and skin type.

The final sample consisted of 1643 consenting cases out of 3420 cancer notifications (48.04%), of which 1455 cases completed one or more components of the study and 1157 completed all components. The WAMHS sample differed to all melanoma notifications only in age, with a bias towards older individuals (P<0.0001). No significant differences were observed in sex, melanoma site, Breslow thickness or Clark's level.

The WAMHS study is novel in its non-family based approach and focus on common (low penetrance) genetic determinants. This comprehensive resource will enable further steps to be taken towards understanding the complex pathways involved in melanoma.