[Mortality of invasive malignant cutaneous melanoma. A review with special consideration of gender distribution]. / Zur Sterblichkeit am kutanen invasiven malignen Melanom. Ubersicht unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Geschlechterverteilung.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The final goals of malignant melanoma prevention are lowering incidence and mortality. We assessed the parameter "survival" for both men and women as the beginning point for future gender-directed prevention campaigns. We compared the periods 1972-1980, 1981-1988, 1989-1996, and determined the influence of age and of Breslow' tumor thickness on survival. PATIENTS/METHODS: We had sufficient follow-up on 10.433 patients. We calculated survival curves according to Kaplan-Meier and defined differences by the logrank test. RESULTS: At all periods of time, survival of women was higher compared with men, but with no impressive changes over time. This was especially true for younger men. The most important prognostic factor was the Breslow tumor thickness. Within all periods of time, its median was higher in men. A trend downwards for both genders could be observed with higher influence on survival in men. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings justify melanoma prevention campaigns addressed to men. Evaluation of such campaigns has to take into account an already existing upwards trend for male survival, which exceeds that of female survival.