Age as a prognostic factor in skin melanoma

The aim of this study was to establish whether older patients with skin melanoma (in an analyzed group of 189 patients treated at the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia from 2004 to 2008), have worse survival compared to younger patients. In 100 men and 89 women with an average age of 58.9 years, the following parameters were observed and statistically analyzed in SPSS: gender, age, localization, tumor thickness, ulceration, lymphonodal status and invasion level. In the four age subgroups - quartiles, the best survival was shown in patients <50 years (85.7%), and the worst in patients >70 years (76.1%). Patients without ulcerations, with negative lymph nodes, thin melanomas and Clark levels I and II had significantly better survival outcomes. Although the results showed no statistical significance of age as a prognostic factor in the survival of patients with skin melanoma, further research on a larger number of patients is warranted