Hispanic Patients are More Likely to be Diagnosed with Late-Stage Melanoma than White, non-Hispanic Patients

OMAHA, NEBRASKA, USA, March 27, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- Skin cancer is more common than every other type of cancer combined, and melanoma is the deadliest type. The number of people being diagnosed with melanoma has increased significantly over the last few decades. Melanoma is much easier to treat when it is diagnosed early on and before it spreads to other parts of the body. There are many different factors that may negatively impact access to medical care, including socioeconomic factors and ethnicity.

In this ground breaking study in SKIN: The Journal of Cutaneous Medicine^®, Julia Griffin and her co-authors used a national cancer database to compare melanoma diagnoses and outcomes between Hispanic and white, non-Hispanic patients to better understand these differences. They found that Hispanic patients have a 2.5x higher chance of being diagnosed with more advanced melanoma compared to white, non-Hispanic patients. These negative differences may be attributed to insurance status, income, education level, and type and location of treatment facilities, all of which were found to be different between the two groups in the study.

With new tools and therapies available to better diagnose and treat melanoma, this cancer is not as deadly as it once was. However, in order to improve outcomes, it is important to identify groups of people that may be at higher risk and provide better access to care for these patients.

SKIN: The Journal of Cutaneous Medicine^® is a peer-reviewed online medical journal that is the official journal of The National Society for Cutaneous Medicine. The mission of SKIN is to provide an enhanced and accelerated route to disseminate new dermatologic knowledge for all aspects of cutaneous disease.

For more details, please visit www.jofskin.org or contact jofskin@gmail.com.

Julia Griffin, BS
Creighton University School of Medicine
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