Distinctive features of melanoma and its management in elderly patients: a population-based study in France.

Importance Life expectancy is increasing in most developed countries, and elderly people have the highest incidence of melanoma. Objective To identify characteristics of melanoma and its management in the elderly compared with younger patients. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective population-based study of incident cases of primary melanoma in 1621 patients with stage I or II melanoma in 2004 and 2008. Questionnaires administered to physicians and a survey of cancer registries and pathology laboratories were used to obtain data. The study was conducted in 5 regions in northeastern France. Main Outcomes and Measures Characteristics of patients and tumors, circumstances of diagnosis, and further management in older patients (≥70 years, 487 patients [30.0%]) compared with younger ones ( Results Older patients had more frequent melanomas of the head and neck (29.4% vs 8.7%; P P P Conclusions and Relevance Age-related variations are observed at every step of melanoma management. The most important concerns are access of elderly people to settings for early diagnosis and excision with appropriate margins.