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Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma (CMM) incidence has been rising around the world and over the last three decades at rates greater than for any other malignancy. Our objective was to describe geographic trends in incidence and mortality of CMM in Russia between 2001 and 2017 using geo-informatics technique (mapping) and descriptive statistical analysis. Additionally, we aimed to study the associations between ethnicity, geographic latitude/longitude and CMM incidence/mortality rates. We retrospectively analyzed the data from the Moscow Oncology Research Institute, Ministry of Health of Russian Federation for the period of the study. International Classification of Diseases (ICD) C43 code (comprising C43.0-C.43.9) was used to identify cutaneous melanoma cases. Routine methods of descriptive epidemiology were used to study incidence and mortality rates by age groups, years, and jurisdictions (i.e., Federal Districts and Federal Subjects of Russia). In total 141,597 patients were diagnosed with melanoma in Russia over the period 2001-2017, of which 62% were women (p<0.001). The overall age-standardized incidence and mortality rates were 4.27/100,000 and 1.62/ 100,000, respectively. Geographic mapping revealed North-to-South and East-to-West gradients across the country. Intrinsic patient characteristics such as the skin phenotype and the climate zones of the country could be an important risk factors for melanoma development. This study, for the first time, reports the burden and geographic distribution of CMM in Russia and the trends correlate with observations in countries with similar geography.

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