Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the age-standardized incidence rate of ocular melanoma and its subtypes in South Korea from 1999 to 2011.
Methods: The national cancer registry in South Korea was reviewed to ascertain all ocular melanoma incidents between 1999 and 2011, which covered the entire South Korean population. Age-standardized incidence rates of ocular melanoma and its subtypes were calculated. Trends in incidence were analyzed by the use of Joinpoint regression. Analyses were stratified by tumor type, sex, age, and year of cancer diagnosis.
Results: A total of 464 ocular melanoma cases (227 men [48.9%]) were identified from 1999 to 2011. The age-standardized incidence rate for 1999 to 2011 was 0.60 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.55-0.66) per million people. Among ocular melanomas, uveal melanoma had the highest age-standardized incidence rate for 1999 to 2011 (0.42 [95% CI: 0.38-0.47] per million people), followed by conjunctival melanoma (0.12 [95% CI: 0.09-0.14] per million people). The age-standardized incidence rate was higher in 2006 to 2011 than in 1999 to 2005, and increasing incidence trends were observed throughout the study period.
Conclusions: Incidence rate of ocular melanoma for 1999 to 2011 is relatively lower in South Korean population than in that reported in white population. Although ocular melanoma is still considered a rare cancer in South Korea, our findings suggest increasing incidence trends. This may warrant future in-depth study.