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The following is a summary of “Association between dermatology follow-up and melanoma survival: A population-based cohort study,” published in the June 2024 issue of Dermatology by Huang, et al.

Guidelines recommend annual dermatologic examinations for patients with melanoma, yet adherence to this follow-up and its impact on survival remained uncertain. For a study, researchers sought to assess adherence to annual dermatologic follow-up among patients with primary cutaneous melanoma, identify predictors for better adherence, and evaluate whether adherence is associated with melanoma-related mortality.

A retrospective inception cohort analysis was conducted on adults diagnosed with primary invasive melanoma in Ontario, Canada, between 2010 and 2013, with follow-up until December 31, 2018.

Adherence to dermatologic follow-up varied, with only 28.0% of patients seeing a dermatologist annually (median follow-up: 5.0 years). Predictors for better adherence included younger age, female sex, higher income, greater access to dermatology care, stage 2/3 melanoma, prior keratinocyte carcinoma, fewer comorbidities, and any outpatient visit in the 12 months before melanoma diagnosis. Higher adherence to annual dermatology visits was associated with reduced melanoma-specific mortality compared to lower adherence levels (adjusted hazard ratio: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.52-0.78). Limitations of the study included its observational design and inability to track skin examinations performed by non-dermatologists.

Adherence to annual dermatology visits following melanoma diagnosis was low. While greater adherence may improve patient survival, further research, including randomized trials, was needed to confirm this association.

Reference: jaad.org/article/S0190-9622(24)00372-4/abstract