Incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma in Denmark 1978-1982. Anatomic site distribution, histologic types, and comparison with non-melanoma skin cancer.

The variations by sex, age and anatomic site of 2,376 cutaneous malignant melanomas, 10,846 basal cell carcinomas, and 2,005 squamous cell carcinomas were analyzed using incident cases from the Danish Cancer Registry for the period 1978-1982. Melanoma have a flat age-incidence curve, whereas for other skin cancers, the increase is exponential with age. Sex- and age-patterns differ for various anatomic locations of the body. In a population based case series of 551 patients with malignant melanoma of the skin diagnosed in the period 1982 to 1985 collected as part of a population-based case-control study, the specific anatomic site of the primary lesion was recorded, and the lesions were classified as to histologic subtype. The estimated incidence rates per unit surface area were highest for melanoma of the back, followed by the face, scalp and neck, and the chest in males. In females highest incidence was recorded for the leg, followed by the face, scalp and neck, and the back. Superficial spreading and nodular melanoma did not differ in their age-pattern. This was markedly different from that of lentigo maligna melanoma undoubtedly due to a strong cohort phenomenon of the former.