Primary Locations of Malignant Melanoma Lesions Depending on Patients’ Gender and Age

INTRODUCTION: Location of malignant melanoma lesions depends on environmental, genetic, sociological and demographical factors. Available sources do not provide enough information on such dependencies in various populations. There is no data concerning the role of socio-demographic factors for the population of the Central and Eastern Europe. AIM: The aim of this work was to evaluate the anatomical location of the primary malignant melanoma lesion in correlation to patients’ gender and age. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of medical documentation of 363 patients has been performed. The patients had been diagnosed with malignant melanoma and were undergoing treatment in the years 2010-2014 in two Polish oncologic hospitals. The subject group consisted of 199 (55%) females and 164 (45%) males. The age varied between 19 - 90 years, with the median of 62 years. RESULTS: In women, the melanoma lesions seem to appear more often in their lower extremities, while in case of men such lesions seem to be more often on their torsos. In both cases, the difference was statistically significant (p<0.01 When the specific locations are considered in women the lesions were more often located on their shins (p<0.01), whereas for men the lesions were located on their backs (p<0.01). It has been observed that there is dependency between lesion localization and age of patients. The lesions located on heads and necks were most common in older patients, and the lesions located in lower extremities were most common in younger ones. CONCLUSION: Differences in location of malignant melanoma lesions may be due to either genetic or environmental reasons. It is often emphasized in literature that correlation between the socio-demographic factors and the process of oncogenesis requires intensive research. In our work, we have tried to fill this gap for the population of Central and Eastern Europe to determine the exact epidemiology of this kind of cancer. This knowledge may be then used for developing cancer prevention methods specific to gender and age.