Melanoma in older patients:declining gap in survival between younger and older patients with melanoma

Background: Older people have the highest incidence of melanoma and the population in most Western countries is ageing. We evaluated how the gap in incidence and survival between younger and older patients has developed during the past decades. Material and methods: All patients diagnosed with cutaneous melanoma between 1989 and 2015 (n = 84,827) were identified from the Netherlands Cancer Registry. Elderly were defined as aged >= 70 years. Differences in patient and tumor characteristics were described, age-specific incidence rates were calculated, and relative survival (RS) and multivaria... Mehr ...