Melanoma more common among women with skin of color; survival poorest among Black patients

Key takeaways:

• Melanoma diagnoses were more common among women with skin of color vs. men.
• Non-Hispanic Black patients were more likely to be diagnosed with advanced-stage melanomas compared with other racial/ethnic groups.

ORLANDO — Among patients with skin of color, women were more likely to be diagnosed with melanoma compared with men, according to a presentation at the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Annual Meeting.

Researchers also found that non-Hispanic Black patients with melanoma had the highest proportion of advanced-stage melanomas and lowest 5-year survival rates.

The current literature on cutaneous melanoma predominantly centers around non-Hispanic white patients, contributing to racial and ethnic disparities in melanoma care and outcomes, Nelson Ugwu, MD, chief resident at the Harvard Combined Dermatology Residency Program, said during the presentation.

To characterize cutaneous melanoma in patients with skin of color, Ugwu and colleagues analyzed 2000 to 2021 Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database data from 27,899 patients with melanoma who were either non-Hispanic Black (n = 2,911; 55% female), non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native (n = 1,234; 54% male), non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander (n = 3,175; 50% female), or Hispanic (n = 20,579; 55% female).

Among patients with skin of color, female patients were diagnosed at a higher rate compared with male patients, accounting for 54% of all melanoma cases, according to the researchers.

“This distribution is the opposite trend compared to what is seen in non-Hispanic white patients, where male patients are diagnosed at a higher rate, with 59% of cases being attributed to men,” Ugwu said.

They also found that the peak age at initial diagnosis was between 50 years to 69 years across all racial/ethnic groups.

Overall, non-Hispanic Black patients were most likely to be diagnosed with advanced-stage melanoma (distant disease, 18%), followed by non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander patients (distant disease, 11%) and Hispanic patients (distant disease, 10%).

Non-Hispanic Black patients also had the lowest 5-year disease-specific survival (70.6%), whereas non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native patients had the highest (87.3%). The researchers noted that women had higher survival compared with men in each of the studied racial/ethnic groups.

They observed a similar trend for 5-year overall survival, with non-Hispanic Black patients having the lowest survival (61.5%) and non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native patients having the highest (81.1%). Once again, women had higher survival compared with men in each racial/ethnic group.

Nelson acknowledged several study limitations, including its retrospective nature and the possibility of underreporting to the database.