engleski

Epidemiologic characteristics of malignant melanoma in the Republic of Croatia

The incidence and moratlity of skin melanoma have been on on icrease in Croatia. From 1968 till 1995, the incidence and mortality of cutaneous melanoma increased by 309 percent and 310 percent (7,5 percent and 6,8 percent per year on an average), respectively. A rapid increase of melanoma has been reported for meny countries (by 4 percent to 8 percent per year over last 20-30 years), howerver a decrase in the moratality rate , especially in young age groups, probably related to erlier detection of that diease , has also been observed. According to data at the cancer Regitry of the Republic of Croatia , amlignantmelanoma accounts for 1.09 percent of total incidence of carcinoma per year. In Austria, it share amounts to 11-12 percent , in USA to 3 percent, and in Japan to 1 percent.InCroatia more than 300 new patients with malignat melanom have been registrated in Croatia per year (31o 1995, 149 of them male and 161 female patients). The pverall incidnec of malignant melanoma incidence is 6.5/100 000, i.e. 6.5 for women and 6.4 for men. In 1998, 149 patients (84 men and 65 men) died from malignant melanoma in Croatia, yielkding a mortality rate of 3.1/100 000. In total number of deaths from carcinoma, cutaneous malnoma accounts for 1.3 percent. The incidence of melanoma rises with age. It does not occur are very young age, while higest rates have been recorded inb the oldaest age groups. An increase in the incidence of melanoma has been observed in all age groups. The most commo localization of skin melanoma is the trunk oin men and lower extremities in women. Geografic differenceshave been observed in the distribution of malignant melanom in Croatia, with highest prevalnec in th Dubrovnik, Zagreb and Zadar regions. Concerning the world, the highest incidnec of cutanous malenom has been found in Australia, where the age-adjusted rate in some ragions reaches 33.1/100 0000 and 25.7/100 000 for mwn and women, respectively In New zeland, the incidence in females (not in the Maori women) is even greater, i.e. 29.8/100 000 .A high incidence of cutaneous melanoma has also been reported for some, mostly southern regions of USA (16-17 /100 000 for white man and women), however, blacks are rarely involved. In Europe, northern countries generally have a higher incidence of skin melanom, however, some parts of Switzerland and Austrian Tyrol also belong to this group of countries. The higest rate in Europe has been found in Norway (14.1 and 15.3 for men and women respectively). Low rates of cutaneous melanoma have been reported from ASIA. So, A rate of 0.2/100 000 for both sexes has been recorded in Osaka, Japan. Even lower rates (o.1/100 000) have been recorded for Malays in Singapore and Algerians in Serif, Africa. In comparison with other countries of the world and Europe, Croatia has quite a low rate of cutaneous melanoma (3.1 and 2.9 in men and women, respectively).

epidemiology; melanoma; cancer registry

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