Age-related Survival Declines in Turkish Patients with Cutaneous Melanoma: A Retrospective Analysis

In cancer patients, the age of a patient at the time of diagnosis is considered among the important clinical indicators.

We aimed to investigate this significance in melanoma patients by creating patient age groups.

A total of 1,496 adult skin melanoma patients were evaluated retrospectively. Patients were divided into six age groups: under 30 (<30), 31-39 (30s), 40-49 (40s), 50-59 (50s), 60-69 (60s), and 70 and older (70+).

The median age was 52 years (range 16-104), and the most common age group was the 50s (n=340, 22.7%). As age increased, so did the Clark level (P=0.0001), the rate of ulceration (P=0.0001), and the rate of BRAF wild-type (P=0.002). The recurrence rates of early-stage patients were similar for all age groups. A significant overall survival (OS) advantage was found only between the following age groups: <30 and 60s (P=0.04) and <30 and 70+ (P=0.01). Five-year OS were, from young to old: 70.5%, 66%, 63.1%, 66.3%, 57.2%, and 46.8%. A significant OS advantage was found only between the following age groups: <30 and 60s (P=0.04) and <30 and 70+ (P=0.01). The 70+ group had significantly worse OS rates in all age groups (<30: P=0.0001; 30s P=0.0001; 40s: P= 0.001; 50s: P=0.0001; and 60s: P=0.04).

While some unfavorable histopathological prognostic factors are associated more frequently with increasing age, clinical stage and recurrence do not differ significantly between age groups. A possible explanation for this might be that the elderly have more comorbidities and die of different causes.