Long‐term deaths from melanoma according to tumor thickness at diagnosis

There is little long‐term follow‐up information about how the number of melanoma deaths and case fatality vary over time according to the measured thickness of melanoma at diagnosis. This population‐based longitudinal cohort study examines patterns and trends in case fatality among 44,531 people in Queensland (Australia) diagnosed with a single invasive melanoma (International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third revision [ICD‐O‐3], C44, Morphology 872–879) between 1987 and 2011, including 11,883 diagnosed between 1987 and 1996, with up to 20 years follow‐up (to December 2016). The 20‐year case fatality increased by thickness, with the percentage of melanoma deaths within 20 years of diagnosis being up to 4.8% for melanomas with measured thickness