van Not OJ, van den Eertwegh AJM, Haanen JB, Blank CU, Aarts MJB, van Breeschoten J, van den Berkmortel FWPJ, de Groot JB, Hospers GAP, Ismail RK, Kapiteijn E, Bloem M, De Meza MM, Piersma D, van Rijn RS, Stevense-den Boer MAM, van der Veldt AAM, Vreugdenhil G, Boers-Sonderen MJ, Blokx WAM, Wouters MWJM, and Suijkerbuijk KPM
Background: The prognosis of advanced melanoma patients has significantly improved over the years. We aimed to evaluate the survival per year of diagnosis., Methods: All systemically treated patients diagnosed with advanced melanoma from 2013 to 2021 were included from the Dutch Melanoma Treatment Registry. Baseline characteristics and overall survival (OS) were compared between the different years of diagnosis. A multivariable Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the association between year of diagnosis and OS., Findings: For this cohort study, we included 6260 systemically treated advanced melanoma patients. At baseline, there was an increase over the years in age, the percentage of patients with an ECOG PS ≥ 2, with brain metastases, and a synchronous diagnosis of primary and unresectable melanoma. Median OS increased from 11.2 months (95% CI 10.0-12.4) for patients diagnosed in 2013 to 32.0 months (95% CI 26.6-36.7) for patients diagnosed in 2019. Median OS was remarkably lower for patients diagnosed in 2020 (26.6 months; 95% CI 23.9-35.1) and 2021 (24.0 months; 95% CI 20.4-NR). Patients diagnosed in 2020 and 2021 had a higher hazard of death compared to patients diagnosed in 2019, although this was not significant. The multivariable Cox regression showed a lower hazard of death for the years of diagnosis after 2013. In contrast, patients diagnosed in 2020 and 2021 had a higher hazard of death compared to patients diagnosed in 2019., Interpretation: After a continuous survival improvement for advanced melanoma patients between 2013 and 2019, outcomes of patients diagnosed in 2020 and 2021 seem poorer. This trend of decreased survival remained after correcting for known prognostic factors and previous neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment, suggesting that it is explained by unmeasured factors, which-considering the timing-could be COVID-19-related., Funding: For the Dutch Melanoma Treatment Registry (DMTR), the Dutch Institute for Clinical Auditing foundation received a start-up grant from governmental organization The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMW, project number 836002002). The DMTR is structurally funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck Sharpe & Dohme, Novartis, and Roche Pharma. Roche Pharma stopped funding in 2019, and Pierre Fabre started funding the DMTR in 2019. For this work, no funding was granted., Competing Interests: AvdE has advisory relationships with Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche, Novartis, MSD, Pierre Fabre, Sanofi, Pfizer, Ipsen, Merck and has received research study grants not related to this paper from Sanofi, Bristol Myers Squibb, Idera and TEVA and has received travel expenses from MSD Oncology, Roche, Pfizer, Pierre Fabre, and Sanofi. JH has advisory relationships with AstraZeneca, Achilles Therapeutics, BioNTech, BMS, CureVac, Iovance Bio, Eisai, Instil Bio, Imcyse, MSD, Neogene Therapeutics, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi, Sastra Cell Therapy, TRV, and T-Knife. And has received research grants not related to this paper from Asher Bio, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, BioNTech, Novartis, and Sastra Cell Therapy. All grants were paid to the institutions. MA has advisory board/consultancy honoraria from Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis, MSD-Merck, Merck-Pfizer, Pierre Fabre, Sanofi, Astellas, Bayer. She received travel expenses from Astella, BMS, Janssen, Pfizer, and Sanofi and a research grant from Merck-Pfizer. Not related to current work and paid to institute. GH consultancy/advisory relationships with Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche, MSD, Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi, Pierre Fabre and has received research grants not related to this paper from Bristol Myers Squibb and Seerave. All payments were paid to the institution. RI has no declarations of interest for this research, but is employed at MSD since January 2022. DP has advisory relationships/consultancy honororia with Pierre Fabre and Novartis and received travel expenses from Pierre Fabre. AvdV has consultancy relationships with Bristol Myers Squibb, MSD, Roche, Novartis, Pierre Fabre, Pfizer, Sanofi, Ipsen, Eisai all paid to the institute. KS has consulting/advisory relationship with Abbvie, Pierre Fabre, and Sairopa. She received honoraria received from Novartis, Roche, Merck Sharp and Dome and research funding not related to this paper from Genmab, TigaTx, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Philips. All paid to institution. All remaining authors have declared no conflicts of interest., (© 2024 The Author(s).)