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91% of Hispanics reported lack of regular skin examinations

Most Hispanic patients reported not knowing the risk factors for skin cancer and not receiving a regular skin examination or performing an annual skin self-examination, according to study results.

Researchers in North Carolina recruited and surveyed 301 patients of Hispanic descent (mean age, 35 years; 72% women). The majority of participants reported Mexico as their country of origin, with nine other countries also cited.

Twenty-three percent of patients reported knowing the risk factors for skin cancer. Nine percent of patients reported receiving a regular skin examination, while 22% reportedly performed annual skin self-exams (SSE). For patients aged older than 40 years (22.3% of the cohort), similar percentages were reported for regular exams (4%) and yearly SSE (24%).

Of the 91% of patients who did not receive regular examinations, 32% noted feelings of not having ample time with physicians. Another 32% of patients reported not thinking to ask or not knowing how to ask for a skin examination, partly because it was not the primary reason for their visit. Researchers said many of the patients’ physicians were bilingual.

Among the 78% of patients who did not perform an annual SSE, 49% reported they were not told to do so, and 29% indicated they did not know what to look for during SSE.

The study “stresses the importance of education to this growing population,” the researchers concluded. “Physicians should educate their patients, demonstrate for them how to perform a proper SSE, explain what to look for, and provide resources with examples. Physicians should also teach their Hispanic patients to pay particular attention to acral areas and extremities because there is a higher incidence of melanoma on those areas in Hispanics.”