2013 to 2017 saw significant drop in U.S. melanoma mortality rates
Source: Medical Xpress, December 2022
The introduction of new melanoma treatments coincided with a reduction in the melanoma mortality rate (MMR) in the United States, according to a study published online Dec. 6 in JAMA Network Open.
Navkirat Kahlon, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences in Ohio, and colleagues reviewed changes in the long-term MMR trends in adult patients in the United States using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Outcomes were examined in association with U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of new drugs for melanoma.
The researchers found that for the first time in the past 40 years, there was a significant reduction in MMR from 2013 to 2017, after the introduction of new treatments in 2011 (most after 2013). From 1975 to 1988, the rates increased (annual percent change, 1.65 percent; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.30 to 2.00 percent; P < 0.001). From 1988 to 2013, there was no significant change in MMR (annual percent change, 0.01 percent; 95 percent confidence interval, ?1.10 to 0.12 percent; P = 0.85). From 2013 to 2017, there was a significant decrease in MMR (annual percent change, ?6.28 percent; 95 percent confidence interval, ?8.52 to ?3.97 percent; P < 0.001).