Melanoma and pregnant women: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract

e21579 Background: Pregnancy-associated melanoma (PAM) is melanoma that can develop up to one year post pregnancy. There is no solid evidence on how pregnancy can affect melanoma survival, recurrence, or mortality. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to analyze Overall Survival (OS), the melanoma recurrence and mortality rate in pregnant women diagnosed with melanoma. Method s: A comprehensive search was performed in Medline, Embase, and Web of Science to identify studies comparing melanoma in pregnant women versus non-pregnant women. Hazard ratios (HR) and risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was evaluated using the I² statistic, and significance was defined as p-values < 0.05. Statistical analyses were conducted using RStudio 4.4.1. Results: Our meta-analysis included 13 studies, comprising a total of 29,095 patients of whom 2,917(10%) were pregnant women. In the OS outcome, statistically significant differences were observed, favoring pregnant women in comparison to non-pregnant women, both groups were diagnosed with melanoma (HR 0.81; 95% CI 0.69 to 0.95; P = 0.012; I² = 85.4%). The OS at 5-years did not show a statistically significant difference (OR 1.08; 95% CI 0.50 to 2.35; P = 0.83; I² = 57.9%). Similarly, the outcomes of melanoma recurrence (RR 1.19; 95% CI 0.95 to 1.48; P = 0.12; I² = 0%) and mortality (RR 1.60; 95% CI 0.82 to 3.13; P = 0.16; I² = 73.5%) also showed no statistically significant differences between the groups. Conclusions: According to this systematic review and meta-analysis, pregnant women diagnosed with melanoma have a higher overall survival rate than non-pregnant women.