Identification of Risk Factors for Acral Melanoma in US Veterans

What risk factors are associated with acral melanoma (AM) in US veterans?In this case-control study including US veterans with AM, Agent Orange exposure was associated with increased odds of AM compared with cutaneous melanoma controls and with controls without melanoma. Using the US incidence of 1.5 to 2.8 cases per million annually, this equates to 0.4 to 0.8 additional individuals with AM per million veterans annually.Results of this study suggest a need for continued investigation of AM as a distinct entity from cutaneous melanoma and may inform future evaluations of the associations between herbicide exposures and AM in veteran populations.

Corresponding Author: Rebecca I. Hartman, MD, MPH, Department of Dermatology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115 (rhartman@bwh.harvard.edu).

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