The impact of prognostic factors and comorbidities on survival in older adults with stage I - III cutaneous melanoma in Southwest Finland: A register study.

Introduction: Despite being diagnosed with thicker and more often ulcerated melanomas, cancer-specific survival (CSS) is not necessarily inferior in older adults with melanoma compared to younger patients.

Materials And Methods: Our aim was to evaluate the impact of baseline melanoma-specific prognostic factors and comorbidities on recurrence-free survival (RFS), CSS, and overall survival (OS) in patients aged 70-79 (n = 474) and ≥ 80 years (n = 286) with resected stage I - III cutaneous melanoma in Southwest Finland between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2020. Patients were restaged according to the 8th edition of TNM classification, and comorbidities were assessed using the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI).

Smoking is an Independent Marker of Poor Prognosis in Cutaneous Melanoma.

Previous studies have suggested that persistent tobacco smoking impairs survival in cutaneous melanoma, but the effects of smoking and other prognostic factors have not been described in detail. This study examined the association of smoking (persistent, former, or never) with melanoma-specific (MSS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with cutaneous melanoma treated in Southwest Finland during 2005 to 2019. Clinical characteristics were obtained from electronic health records for 1,980 patients.