Abstract

We studied 313 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of primary malignant melanoma who presented to The University of Texas System Cancer Center between 1976 and 1980, to determine the relationship of endocrine status to the presentation of this tumor. There were 171 women and 142 men, a ratio of 1.20:1. Age, age range, race, and residence distribution were comparable for both sexes. The women married and had their first pregnancy at ages at least comparable to the population in general. They tended to have multiple pregnancies (average, 2.64), to nurse their children, to have an aggregate 32 years of menstrual activity, and to use exogenous hormones (73%). The female patients in this study had more favorable lesions than their male counterparts in all five microstaging categories: type of melanoma, location, level of invasion, thickness, and stage. Analysis of the hormonal subgroups among the women revealed the morphology of the primary tumor to be independent of menopausal status, parity, or the use of exogenous hormones. These findings suggest that hormonal background does not effect the acquisition of malignant melanoma, but may influence its subsequent spread.