Is Age A Risk Factor for Melanoma?
Melanoma can afflict people of all ages, from the young to the elderly, and everyone in between. Melanoma is often considered a disease of older people, since about half of melanomas occur in people over the age of 50, with the median age at diagnosis being 59. While older adults are at higher risk of developing melanoma, the incidence of melanoma is rapidly rising in young adults. In fact, melanoma is now the third most common form of cancer in men and women aged 15 to 29. So yes, age is a risk factor for melanoma, but the risk of developing the disease is not limited to older adults.
It is estimated that approximately 400 cases of melanoma are diagnosed each year in patients younger than 20 years in the United States, accounting for less than 1% of all new cases of melanoma.[1]
Melanoma annual incidence in the United States (2011–2015) increases with age, as follows[2]:
- Children younger than 10 years: <1.8 cases per 1 million.
- Children aged 10 to 14 years: 3.2 cases per 1 million.
- Children aged 15 to 19 years: 10.4 cases per 1 million.
The incidence of pediatric melanoma increased by an average of 1.7% per year between 1975 and 1994,[2] but then decreased by 0.6% per year from 1995 to 2014.[4]
Melanoma accounts for about 4% of all cancers in children aged 15 to 19 years.[2,3]
The number of children dying from melanoma has fallen significantly over the last 37 years.[5] This improvement is thought to be the result of better education and screening.
Young people are at greater risk if there is a family history of melanoma; therefore, even young children should be screened in this circumstance.