Swedish Melanoma Registry (SweMR)
National Quality Registry

• Registry Manager: Region Östergötland
• Registry Centre - affiliation: Regional Cancer Centre South East
• Start year: 1990
• Classifications used: ICD10
• This registry contains data on: Diagnosis, Treatment, Primary Care and melanoma specific survival.
• A separate Melanoma Prognostic Model have been constructed on all data in SweMR and is updated from the Swedish Death Registry
  

Description of registry

Malignant melanoma is the fifth most common of all tumours. Melanoma is caused by harmful ultraviolet radiation causing damage to the skin. Increased travels to the sun and tanning bed use are probable factors for the increase of the disease. In 2018, there were more than 4700 invasive melanomas diagnosed in Sweden. The age-adjusted incidence was 47/100,000, slightly more men than women. The total incidence increase per year was more than 5 percent the last 10 years.

The last 3 years more than 500 individuals have died due to melanoma, half of which were older than seventy-five.

Early diagnosis with a high proportion of thin melanomas provides a relative five-year survival rate of 93 percent for women and 86 percent for men. Informing the population about the disease, signs of diagnosis, where to turn, the use of dermatoscope as well as sun protection and banning tanning bed habits should hopefully be able to halt the increase rate of the disease, not yet seen in Sweden.

Purpose and objectives:

• to supplement cancer registration with tumour-specific factors, stage, data on surgical treatment and melanoma specific survival.
• to maintain a national database as a basis for research
• to enable monitoring national developments and to make global comparisons of prevalence, incidence and survival
• to provide for individual clinics/hospitals to run comparisons with regional and national data in an Online Report updated three times per year.
• to provide an yearly report to care providers
• to describe the continuum of care with the help of quality indicators

Population

All individuals diagnosed with invasive melanoma are registered via the INCA portal. In situ melanoma is not registered individually but later included from the Swedish Cancer Registry.

Ages in the registry

All ages.

Total volume of registry

The inclusion rate is above 95 percent most years. At present, there are about 67,000 primary invasive melanoma tumours registered since the start of SweMR.

Volume over the past operating year

4 700 new primary CMM.

Coverage rate

The coverage rate is the number of cases of melanoma in the registry/number of cases in the quality registry. In 2011, the coverage rate was estimated at 95 percent.

References on validations

Validation is only done in conjunction with registration by the monitor at the Regional Cancer Center before data is entered on the national database for SweMR. The registration is online with barriers for incongruous values.

Note: Variable lists are updated on a regular basis by the steering committee of SweMR. For the latest version, please contact the registry.