Educational status, ethnicity play role in melanoma awareness

Socioeconomic disparities may lead to a lower awareness of melanoma and its dangers, especially among those who are Hispanic, according to a cross-sectional study presented at the American Academy of Dermatology virtual meeting.

Daniela Sanchez, BS, and colleagues examined whether melanoma knowledge increased since the publishing of a 1996 study on awareness of the disease.

The cross-sectional survey assessed data from 285 adult participants.

The survey results identified 59.6% of the participants were female, 46% were Hispanic/Latino and 36% were Caucasian. Mean age of the participants was 45.6 years; 55% had a high school education or less, while 45% earned less than $34,999 annually.

Sanchez and colleagues found 39% of those surveyed had no knowledge of the term “melanoma.” Of those participants, 65% recognized early signs of the disease and knew at least one of the risk factors of melanoma.

Overall, the inability to distinguish warning signs and melanoma distribution from other skin cancers stayed the same compared with data from 1996.

Women, white adults, college graduates and adults older than 65 years had greater knowledge that melanoma was a skin cancer. Knowledge of the term melanoma was lower among men, Hispanic adults and adults with an educational status of high school or below.

The researchers said that adults with Fitzgerald skin types I and II were more knowledgeable and aware of melanoma compared with adults classified with Fitzgerald skin types III and IV.

“Minority populations and those with a high school education or less would benefit from educational programs geared towards early detection,” Sanchez and colleagues wrote.