Death rates of malignant melanoma among white men--United States, 1973-1988.

Since 1973, death rates for malignant melanoma (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, codes 172.0-172.9) have increased in the United States and other countries; this increase has occurred disproportionately among white men. To develop hypotheses on the etiology of this increase, the Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health and CDC reviewed data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program for the National Cancer Institute and other existing databases. This report summarizes patterns of malignant melanoma among whites in the United States from 1973 through 1988 and suggests possible causes for these patterns.