Previous pregnancy is a favourable prognostic factor in women with localised cutaneous melanoma

Figures & data

Table I. Patient characteristics of all patients (n=334) at the time of diagnosis of primary melanoma. Analysis for tumour ulceration has been routinely used only since 2005. Sentinel node biopsy (SNB) has been routinely performed since October 2001 and only in cases of Breslow ≥0.5−1.0 mm melanomas.

Characteristic	Patients with pregnancy 248	No pregnancies 55	Not known 31
Age at dg, years mean (range)	45.6 (18.7–64.4)	38.3 (15.5–63.4)	47.4 (24–63.5)
Breslow (mm) (range)	1.218 (0.1–12)	1.398 (0.2–7.6)	1.179 (0.3–6)
Clark's level
I	3 (1.2%)	1 (1.8%)	0
II	88 (35.5%)	21 (38.2%)	5 (16.1%)
III	102 (41.1%)	20 (36.4%)	12 (38.7%)
IV	43 (17.3%)	6 (10.9%)	10 (32.3%)
V	4 (1.6%)	1 (1.8%)	1 (3.2%)
Unknown	8 (3.2%)	6 (10.9%)	3 (9.7%)
Ulceration
Ulcerated	34 (13.7%)	11 (20%)	4 (12.9%)
Ulceration absent	136 (54.8%)	24 (43.6%)	15 (48.4%)
Ulceration unknown	78 (31.5%)	20 (36.3%)	12 (38.7%)
Primary tumour site
Head	16 (6.5%)	3 (5.4%)	2 (6.5%)
Trunk	84 (33.9%)	17 (30.1%)	11 (35.5%)
Upper extremity	53 (21.4%)	13 (23.6%)	7 (22.6%)
Lower extremity	95 (38.3%)	21 (38.2%)	11 (35.5%)
Unknown primary	0	1 (1.8%)	0
Sentinel node biopsy (SNB)
Negative	106 (42.7%)	19 (34.5%)	14 (45.2%)
Positive	14 (5.6%)	6 (10.9%)	4 (12.9%)
Not performed (n=174)	128 (51.6%)	30 (54.5%)	3 (9.7%)
Tumour stage (n=334)
I-II (n=306)	233 (94.0%)	46 (83.7%)	27 (87.1%)
III (n=25)	15 (6.0%)	7 (12.7%)	3 (9.7%)
IV (n=3)	0	2 (3.6%)	1 (3.2%)
Parity status
1	50a (20.2%)
2	94 (37.9%)
3	66 (26.6%)
4	28 (11.3%)
5	5 (2%)
6	4 (1.6%)
7	0
8	1 (0.4%)

^aAnalysis includes three patients who had at least one pregnancy but the exact amount of pregnancies could not be verified.

Figure 1. Probability to melanoma progression (to stage III/IV) was higher in nulliparous women (− group) than in women with history of pregnancy (+ group).

Table II. Outcome of study patients with or without pregnancy.

Outcome	All patients n=303	Patients with pregnancy n=248	No pregnancies n=55
Disease progression	49	35	14	p=0.049
No progression	254	213	41
Alive	273	229	44	p=0.022
Death	25	16	9
Lost to follow-up	5	3	2

Figure 2. Disease-specific survival in women at least one pregnancy in their lifetime (± group) compared to nulliparous women (− group).

Figure 3. Disease-specific survival in women with pregnancies within three years of melanoma diagnosis (<3>year group) compared to women who had pregnancy outside this period or were nulliparous women (± group).