Sex matters: men with melanoma have a worse prognosis than women

Background In Europe, one of the highest melanoma incidences is found in the Netherlands. Like in several other European countries, females are more prone to develop melanoma as compared to males, although survival is worse for men. Objective To identify clinicopathological gender‐related differences that may lead to gender‐specific preventive measures. Methods Data from the Dutch Nationwide Network and Registry of Histopathology and Cytopathology (PALGA) were retrieved from patients with primary, cutaneous melanoma in the Netherlands between 2000 and 2014. Patients initially presenting as stage I, II and III without clinically detectable nodal disease were included. Follow‐up data were retrieved from the Netherlands Cancer Registry. Gender‐related differences were assessed, and to compare relative survival between males and females, multivariable relative excess risks (RER) were calculated. Results A total of 54.645 patients were included (43.7% men). In 2000, 41.7% of the cohort was male, as compared to 47.3% in 2014 (P