Study Cites Skin Cancer Risks for Blacks, Latinos

African Americans are three times more likely than whites to be diagnosed with skin cancer when it is already in an advanced and possibly fatal stage, according to a study in Miami released Monday.

Researchers pointed to a lack of public awareness about the risks of skin cancer for African Americans as well as Latinos, who are nearly two times more likely than whites to have a late-stage diagnosis.

The research focused on melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Even though minority groups are at relatively low risk to develop melanoma in the first place, when they do get the disease it is more likely to be fatal, the study said.

Diagnosis in the later stages of melanoma decreases the survival rate to 16%.

Education about the risks from too much sun has been targeted mainly at people with light skin, who have the least natural protection against skin cancer, said Dr. Robert Kirsner, who headed the research team from the University of Miami. That focus has helped improve survival rates among whites since the 1970s, but minority groups have not experienced similar improvement.

Kirsner said data suggested that blacks and Latinos didn’t get screened enough for the disease, and even their doctors often didn’t understand the risks.

“It appears that there’s a need for a broadening of the public health message about sun exposure and skin cancer screening of nonwhite populations,” Kirsner said.

The study, published in the June edition of the Archives of Dermatology, looked at 1,700 reported cases of melanoma in the Miami area over a five-year period.

About 27% of the patients were Latino, and 2% were black.

The Miami researchers said other factors might have contributed to the problem, including poverty and lack of health insurance.

Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer and is estimated to kill nearly 8,000 Americans a year, the American Cancer Society said.

The danger of melanoma, which affects the pigment-producing cells in the skin, stems from the cancer’s ability to metastasize, or spread to other parts of the body.

If melanoma is diagnosed during the early stages, patients have a 98% survival rate, according to the study.