Melanoma is more deadly to pregnant women

Women with melanoma who become pregnant are more likely to die from this skin cancer than those who are not pregnant, according to new research. Researchers found that women diagnosed with melanoma during pregnancy or within a year after giving birth were five times more likely to die from this skin cancer than those who were not pregnant.

Furthermore, women with melanoma who had been or were currently pregnant were nearly seven times more likely to have metastases than similar women who were not pregnant. They were also nine times more likely to have the cancer recur over the next 7.5 years.

"When we looked at the data, we were shocked to see such high rates of cancer death, metastasis and recurrence in pregnant women," said Dr. Brian Gastman, a plastic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic.

In the new study, researchers looked at 462 women under the age of 50 who had melanoma. Of these, 41 women were diagnosed with the disease during pregnancy or within a year of giving birth. Of these women, 20 percent died from melanoma, compared with only 10 percent of women with melanoma who were not pregnant.

Additionally, 25 percent of women with melanoma diagnosed during pregnancy or soon after giving birth had cancer spread to other parts of the body, compared with 12.7 percent of non-pregnant women.

Over the next 7.5 years, 12.5 percent of women whose melanoma was diagnosed after pregnancy or childbirth had their cancer recur, compared with 1.4 percent in the other groups.

The researchers are "not saying that pregnant women are necessarily more likely to develop melanoma," Gastman told Live Science. However, if pregnant women develop melanoma, "their cancer tends to be more aggressive and aggressive," he said.

The researchers are not sure why melanoma is more aggressive in pregnant women, but they say it may be related to hormonal changes in pregnant women, such as increased estrogen levels.

The researchers say more aggressive melanomas in pregnant women are also linked to suppression of the immune system to prevent the body from rejecting the fetus.

Previous studies have shown that melanoma rates are increasing among women aged 20 to 40.

The study is a reminder for all women who are at higher risk for melanoma — for example, those with multiple moles, sun exposure or a family history of skin cancer — that they need to be especially vigilant about any changes in their skin and should consider seeing a dermatologist, Gastman said. If women already have a high-risk melanoma and are pregnant, "seeing a dermatologist is key," he said. The study was published Jan. 20 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.