Demographics of malignant melanoma in Trinidad and Tobago

This study aims to describe the demographics of malignant melanoma (MM) in Trinidad and Tobago.

All cases of MM for the period 2004-2019 were analysed with data collected on age, gender, histological subtype, anatomical location, Clark Staging, Breslow thickness/American Joint Committee on Cancer 8 guidelines.

There were 54 cases comprising 31 (57%) women and 23 (43%) men with an age range of 12-96 years (mean=61). Incidence was calculated at 0.482 per 100,000 persons per annum and prevalence was 0.01%. The number of new cases diagnosed annually ranged between two and four, with a range of one to seven. African ethnicity was predominant (45; 83.3%) followed by East Indians (6; 11.1%) and mixed (3; 5.6%). Anatomical sites (n=51) included the lower limb (28; 54.9%), trunk (9; 17.6%), upper limb (6; 11.7%), ocular region (5; 9.8%), head and neck (1; 2%), head and neck mucosal (1; 2%) and gastrointestinal mucosal (1; 2%). Common subtypes (n=42) included not otherwise specified (27; 64.3%), nodular melanoma (NM) (6; 14.3%), acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) (4; 9.5%), spindle cell (3; 7.1%), superficial spreading melanoma (SSM) (1; 2.4%), amelanotic melanoma (AM) (1; 2.4%). Breslow thickness and the Clark classification were used for 23 and 16 patients, respectively.

There were 54 cases diagnosed over 16 years serving a catchment of 700,000 persons giving an incidence rate of 0.482 per 100,000 persons per annum and a prevalence of 0.01%. African ethnicity was dominant (83.3%) with the lower limb, trunk and upper limb being most commonly affected. There is a major need for better recording of data, staging and treating this disease in the Caribbean region.