Personal History of Keratinocyte Carcinoma is Associated with Reduced Risk of Death from Invasive Melanoma in Men

Publication date: Available online 6 January 2018
Source:Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
Author(s): Fengju Song, Steven T. Chen, Xin Li, Jiali Han
BackgroundPrevious studies have found an increased risk of invasive cutaneous melanoma (CM) among those with a history of keratinocyte carcinoma (KC).ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to evaluate the risk of CM death after KC.MethodsThe study was based on the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS). Cox proportional hazards model was used to examine the hazard ratio (HR) of CM death associated with personal history of KC, among the entire study population (primary analysis) and invasive CM cases (secondary analysis) respectively.ResultsWe documented a total of 908 invasive CM cases over a total of 0.7 million person-years of follow-up. Among all participants, the risk of developing either lethal or non-lethal invasive CM increased for those with KC history. The risk of melanoma death based on KC history was non-significantly increased, with HR (95% CI) of 1.53 (0.95 – 2.46). In the case-only analysis, those with KC history had a significantly lower risk of melanoma death compared with those with no such history, HR=0.60 (0.35-0.94).LimitationsBecause HPFS consists exclusively of male health professionals, the results of this study may not be extended to the entire population.ConclusionPersonal history of KC is associated with a decreased risk of melanoma-specific death among male patients with invasive CM.