{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T16:12:02Z","timestamp":1780330322604,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,10]],"date-time":"2022-05-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1652140800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cancers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>At the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, Switzerland was among the countries with the highest number of SARS-CoV2-infections per capita in the world. Lockdowns had a remarkable impact on primary care access and resulted in postponed cancer screenings. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on the diagnosis of melanomas and stage of melanomas at diagnosis. In this retrospective, exploratory cohort study, 1240 patients with a new diagnosis of melanoma were analyzed at five tertiary care hospitals in German-speaking Switzerland over a period of two years and three months. We compared the pre-lockdown (01\/FEB\/19\u201315\/MAR\/20, n = 655) with the lockdown (16\/MAR\/20\u201322\/JUN\/20, n = 148) and post-lockdown period (23\/JUN\/20\u201330\/APR\/21, n = 437) by evaluating patients\u2019 demographics and prognostic features using Breslow thickness, ulceration, subtype, and stages. We observed a short-term, two-week rise in melanoma diagnoses after the major lift of social lockdown restrictions. The difference of mean Breslow thicknesses was significantly greater in older females during the lockdown compared to the pre-lockdown (1.9 \u00b1 1.3 mm, p = 0.03) and post-lockdown period (1.9 \u00b1 1.3 mm, p = 0.048). Thickness increase was driven by nodular melanomas (2.9 \u00b1 1.3 mm, p = 0.0021; resp. 2.6 \u00b1 1.3 mm, p = 0.008). A proportional rise of advanced melanomas was observed during lockdown (p = 0.047). The findings provide clinically relevant insights into lockdown-related gender- and age-dependent effects on melanoma diagnosis. Our data highlight a stable course in new melanomas with a lower-than-expected increase in the post-lockdown period. The lockdown period led to a greater thickness in elderly women driven by nodular melanomas and a proportional shift towards stage IV melanoma. We intend to raise awareness for individual cancer care in future pandemic management strategies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers14102360","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,10]],"date-time":"2022-05-10T21:52:11Z","timestamp":1652219531000},"page":"2360","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Effects of COVID-19 Lockdown on Melanoma Diagnosis in Switzerland: Increased Tumor Thickness in Elderly Females and Shift towards Stage IV Melanoma during Lockdown"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Lisa","family":"Kostner","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sara Elisa","family":"Cerminara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0278-203X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gustavo Santo Pedro","family":"Pamplona","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University of Lausanne, 1004 Lausanne, Switzerland"},{"name":"Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Julia-Tatjana","family":"Maul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2279-6906","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Reinhard","family":"Dummer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Egle","family":"Ramelyte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Johanna","family":"Mangana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4708-2886","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nikolaus Benjamin","family":"Wagner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Antonio","family":"Cozzio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Saskia","family":"Kreiter","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Angelika","family":"Kogler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Markus","family":"Streit","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Cantonal Hospital of Aarau, 5001 Aarau, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anja","family":"Wysocki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Cantonal Hospital of Lucerne, 6000 Lucerne, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alfred","family":"Zippelius","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Theragnostics, Division of Oncology, University Hospital Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland"},{"name":"Laboratory of Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, University Hospital of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Heinz","family":"L\u00e4ubli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Theragnostics, Division of Oncology, University Hospital Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland"},{"name":"Laboratory of Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, University Hospital of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alexander Andreas","family":"Navarini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9202-0073","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lara Valeska","family":"Maul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"00368504211019854","DOI":"10.1177\/00368504211019854","article-title":"COVID-19 pandemic: A review of the global lockdown and its far-reaching effects","volume":"104","author":"Onyeaka","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sci. 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