The Valencian Community has registered a total of 574 new cases of melanoma in the region in one year, according to the latest figures from the Cancer Information System (SIC-CV), which is in charge of the cancer surveillance system in the Community,
Of the 574 new cases of melanoma that correspond to the year 2021, 297 cases have been diagnosed in men and 277 in women, so this type of cancer is somewhat more frequent in men.
Cutaneous melanoma is a type of skin cancer that develops when melanocytes (the cells that give skin a tan hue) grow out of control. The main cause of melanoma is exposure to ultraviolet radiation emitted naturally by the sun or by artificial sources, such as tanning booths and devices. On the other hand, there is a higher risk for people who have fair skin.
Of all the cancer diagnoses that were carried out in 2021 in the Valencian Community, melanoma represented 2%, without taking into account those types of non-melanoma skin cancer.
On the other hand, the incidence rate in the Valencian Community has decreased to 10.88 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021, compared to that registered in 2019, which stood at 13.19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
By sex, the incidence rate stands at 12.36 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the case of men and 9.74 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in women. In both sexes, the incidence rate increases with age and the mean age at diagnosis is 65 years for men and 64 years for women. According to the figures, one in 148 men and one in 184 women, respectively, are at risk of developing melanoma before the age of 75.
Likewise, the rates in the Valencian Community are similar to the projections made for Spain by the Spanish Network of Cancer Registries in 2021 (10.5 cases per 100,000 in men and 13.8 per 100,000 in women) and lower than those of the European Cancer Information System, ECIS (26 per 100,000 men and 20.8 per 100,000 women for 2020).
Finally, the relative survival of melanoma 5 years after diagnosis during the period from 2004 to 2018 is 80.4% in men and 83.9% in women. Regarding mortality from melanoma, it represents 1.1% of all deaths from cancer in the Valencian Community.
