University of Twente Student Theses

Changes over time (before and during the COVID-19 pandemic) in survival rates of patients diagnosed with stage IV melanoma in the Netherlands : a population-based study

Riethorst, P.P. (2023) Changes over time (before and during the COVID-19 pandemic) in survival rates of patients diagnosed with stage IV melanoma in the Netherlands : a population-based study.

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Embargo date:	13 July 2025
Abstract:	Background: This study aims to assess the trend in the uptake of immunotherapy and/or targeted therapy and the one-year relative survival among patients primarily diagnosed with stage IV melanoma in the Netherlands from 2000 to 2021. It also explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the two-year relative survival of stage IV melanoma patients diagnosed between 2018 and 2021. Methods: Data were obtained from the nationwide population-based Netherlands Cancer Registry (NCR). In total, 3475 patients with primarily diagnosed metastatic melanoma between 2000 and 2021 in the Netherlands were investigated. To identify the impact of COVID-19, patients diagnosed from 2018 to 2021 were divided into two cohorts: "pre-pandemic" from January 2018 to March 2020 (n = 433) and "pandemic" from March 2020 to December 2021 (n = 543). Results: Starting from 2013, for both patients with cutaneous melanoma (C44) as well as patients with unspecified primary localization (C80), the proportion of patients receiving immunotherapy and/or targeted therapy increased, accompanied by an increase in the one-year relative survival for both C44 and C80. In the pandemic period, more lymphatic (51.9% vs. 42.5%, P = 0.003) and more connective/subcutaneous tissue, and other tissue (30.8% vs. 24.3%, P = 0.024) metastases were found, immunotherapy was slightly more common (59.3% vs. 52.7%, P = 0.038), and radiotherapy was less common (0.9% vs. 3.5%, P = 0.005). After correcting for age and gender, the two-year survival of patients with topography C44 and C80 in the pandemic period were comparable to that of patients in the pre-pandemic period. Conclusion: Despite the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, limited changes in patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics have been found. This study also reveals no worse two-year relative survival in the pandemic than in the pre-pandemic period.
Item Type:	Essay (Master)
Clients:	Comprehensive Cancer Organization the Netherlands (IKNL), Netherlands
Faculty:	TNW: Science and Technology
Subject:	44 medicine
Programme:	Health Sciences MSc (66851)
Link to this item:	https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/96226
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