‘Other approaches are needed’ for melanoma detection among patients with skin of color

Key takeaways:

• Out of 60,680 patients with skin of color, eight were diagnosed with melanoma, with two considered high risk.
• Although melanoma incidence is rare among patients with skin of color, survival is poor.

Early detection continues to fail as an intervention for melanoma among patients with skin of color, prompting the need for other approaches, according to a study.

In a research letter published in JAMA Dermatology, Laura K. Ferris, MD, PhD, of the department of dermatology at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote about the continued treatment disparities of melanoma among individuals with skin of color.

The authors explained that while incidence continues to be very high exclusively among non-Hispanic and white individuals, other races have poorer melanoma survival.

According to a 3-year study conducted by the authors, out of 60,680 individuals who identified as American Indian, Asian, Black, Hispanic or Pacific Islander, only eight melanomas were detected.

This means that “over 12,000 patients had to be screened to find one melanoma,” Ferris explained to Healio. In comparison, to find one melanoma among non-Hispanic or white patients, it only took 373 screenings.

Of the eight patients with skin of color diagnosed with melanoma, three were screened for skin cancer, but only one was diagnosed during that screening visit, according to the study.

Four of the remaining melanomas were identified by health care professionals during non-skin cancer related visits, and the final three were identified by the patient or family.

Furthermore, according to Ferris, two of the eight lesions detected were thicker, nodular melanomas meaning, while melanomas in this population were rare, a higher proportion were high risk.

Early detection is still the best way to reduce melanoma-specific mortality; however, the study found that all of the patients with melanoma had seen their primary care clinician at least once in the 6 months prior to diagnosis. This suggests that physicians are missing opportunities for early intervention.

“Other approaches are needed to help to reduce the risk of mortality among [these] patients who do develop melanoma,” Ferris told Healio. “This may include improved education of patients and their health care providers to increase earlier self-detection and triage at the primary care level and also investigating better treatment options for those patients who are diagnosed with later stage disease.”