The relationship be thickness and time tween melanoma to diagnosis in a large population-based study

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between melanoma thickness and reported time from first recognition and from first physician contact to the diagnosis of invasive melanoma. DESIGN: Telephone survey of patients recently diagnosed as having melanoma, combined with relevant pathological data (including melanoma thickness and morphologic structure) from the population-based Queensland Cancer Registry. A test-retest study (n = 176) was also conducted. SETTING: Population-based study in Queensland. PARTICIPANTS: Residents of Queensland (n = 3772) who had been diagnosed as having invasive melanoma between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2003. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prepresentation time (tim..