Uveal melanoma incidence trends in Canada: 1992-2010 vs. 2011-2017

Santina Conte; François Lagacé; Feras M Ghazawi; Leila Cattelan; Siddharth Nath; Jobanpreet Dhillon; Hacene Nedjar; Elham Rahme; Denis Sasseville; Miguel N Burnier Jr; Ivan V Litvinov

doi:10.3389/fmed.2022.1001799

Uveal melanoma incidence trends in Canada: 1992-2010 vs. 2011-2017

Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 Jan 24:9:1001799. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.1001799. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
² Division of Dermatology, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
³ Division of Dermatology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
⁴ Department of Ophthalmology, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁵ Division of Clinical Epidemiology, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.

Abstract

Background/aims: Uveal melanoma is the most common type of non-cutaneous melanoma and the most common ocular malignancy in the adult population, especially affecting Caucasians (98% of cases). Despite its low incidence rate, we have noted increasing incidence trends in recent years.

Methods: We analyzed uveal melanoma incidence data using the Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR) for 2011-2017 years. The data was examined using the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, Third Edition, codes for all uveal melanoma subtypes. The data for 2011-2017 was then compared to previously published work by our research group for uveal melanoma incidence in Canada between 1992 and 2010 using the same methodology.

Results: Between 2011 and 2017, 1,215 patients were diagnosed with uveal melanoma, 49% of whom were females. The percentage distribution of uveal melanoma between the sexes was similar between 1992-2010 and 2011-2017, whereby of the 2,215 diagnoses of uveal melanoma in 1992-2010, 47.9% were females. The change in the incidence rate for this cancer has doubled between 1992-2010 and 2011-2017, from 0.074 to 0.15 cases per million individuals per year. Our study documents that the Canadian 2011-2017 age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) for uveal melanoma against the World Health Organization (WHO) 2000-2025 world population standard was 5.09 cases per million individuals per year (95% confidence interval, 4.73-5.44), as compared with the 1992-2010 rate of 3.34 cases per million individuals per year (95% confidence interval, CI 3.20 to 3.47).

Conclusion: This work demonstrates an ongoing, steady increase in uveal melanoma incidence in Canada in recent years.

Keywords: Canada; epidemiology; incidence; provinces; uveal melanoma.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by a Proof of Concept Intervention Grant in Primary Prevention of Cancer (Action Grant) of the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)-Institute for Cancer Research (CCS grant #707233/CIHR-ICR grant # 478510), further supported by the CIHR Project Scheme Grant #426655 to IL, CIHR Catalyst Grant #428712 to IL, FG, Mukovozov, Mourad, Cyr, Claveau, Gniadecki, ER, DS, and FL, Cancer Research Society (CRS)-CIHR Partnership Grant #25343 to IL, and by the Fonds de la recherche du Québec–Santé to IL (#34753, #36769, and #296643).