Data from: Clinicopathologic characteristics of melanoma in Parkinson's disease patients

Patients with Parkinson's disease are at high risk for developing melanoma, though current literature lacks details on the associated clinicopathologic characteristics. Our retrospective case-control study aimed to guide skin cancer surveillance recommendations for Parkinson's disease patients, focusing on tumor site. Our study included 70 adults with concurrent diagnoses of Parkinson's disease and melanoma from January 1, 2007 to January 1, 2020 at Duke University, and 102 age-, sex-, and race-matched controls. The head/neck region accounted for 39.5% of invasive melanomas in the case group compared to 25.3% in the control group, as well as 48.7% of non-invasive melanomas in the case group compared to 39.1% in the control group. Of note, 50% of metastatic melanomas in Parkinson's disease patients originated on the head and neck (n=3). Logistic regression showed 2.09 times higher odds of having a head/neck melanoma in our case group compared to the control group (odds ratio = 2.09, 95% confidence interval [1.13, 3.86]; p=0.020). Our study is limited by a small sample size, and our case cohort lacked diversity regarding race, ethnicity, sex, and geography. Validation of the reported trends could provide more robust guidance for melanoma surveillance in Parkinson's disease patients. We wish to acknowledge support from the Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design (BERD) Methods Core. This content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.