Trends of skin cancer mortality after transplantation in the United States: 1987 to 2013

Background: Solid organ transplant recipients are at increased risk of skin cancer, but population-based mortality data are limited. Objective: Mortality and predictors of skin cancer death posttransplantation were investigated. Methods: All US organ transplant recipients between 1987 and 2013, identified through the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Standard Transplant Analysis and Research file, were included. Mortality and hazard ratios (HR) were calculated for the overall population and patient subgroups. Results: The overall mortality was 5308 per 100,000 person-years and the skin cancer-specific mortality was 35.27 per 100,000 person-years. Risk factors associated with skin cancer death included thoracic versus abdominal transplantation (HR 2.90, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.52-3.34), age over 50 years (HR 2.86, CI 2.43-3.38), white race (HR 6.29, CI 4.63-8.53), and male sex (HR 1.85, CI 1.57-2.19). Mortality was highest for malignant melanoma (mortality of 11.48), followed by squamous cell carcinoma (mortality of 4.94) and Merkel cell carcinoma (mortality of 4.59). Limitations: Limitations of this study included potential underreporting and misclassification of death from skin cancer in the data set. Conclusion: Mortality from posttransplantation skin cancer is reported. Older patients, male patients, white patients, and thoracic transplant recipients had increased mortality from skin cancer.