Personal history of keratinocyte carcinoma is associated with reduced risk of death from invasive melanoma in men

Abstract

Background Previous studies have found an increased risk for invasive cutaneous melanoma (CM) among those with a history of keratinocyte carcinoma (KC). Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of CM death after KC. Methods The study was based on the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to examine the hazard ratio (HR) of death due to CM associated with personal history of KC among the entire study population (primary analysis) and among participants with invasive CM (secondary analysis), respectively. Results We documented a total of 908 participants with invasive CM over a total of 0.7 million person-years of follow-up. Among all participants, the risk for development of either lethal or nonlethal invasive CM increased for those with a history of KC. The risk for death due to melanoma based on KC history was not significantly increased, with an HR of 1.53 (95% confidence interval, 0.95-2.46). In the case-only analysis, those with a history of KC had a significantly lower risk for death due to melanoma than those with no such history (HR, 0.60; 95% confidence interval, 0.35-0.94). Limitations Because the population covered by the Health Professionals Follow-up Study consists exclusively of male health professionals, the results of this study may not be extended to the entire population. Conclusion Personal history of KC is associated with a decreased risk for melanoma-specific death among male patients with invasive CM.