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Recent decline in melanoma mortality isolated to only most educated
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Although researchers have observed decreases in the mortality due to melanoma during the last 2 decades, a recent study has found that these decreases might only be occurring among non-Hispanic whites who are highly educated.
“Melanoma mortality is affected by prognostic factors, and improved prognostic characteristics associated with higher area-level socioeconomic status likely underlie better melanoma mortality outcomes,” the researchers wrote.
In the study, the researchers used data on recorded melanoma deaths taken from the death certificate records of 26 states between 1993 and 2007. They then measured the age-adjusted death rates among this group according to gender and educational level.
Overall, the rate of mortality due to melanoma decreased significantly between 1993-1997 and 2003-2007 in both men (RR=0.916; 95% CI, 0.878-0.954) and women (RR=0.907; 95% CI, 0.857-0.957). However, when the data were broken down by years of education, only those non-Hispanic whites with more than 13 years of education had a significant decrease in melanoma mortality.
“An increasingly disproportionate burden of fatal melanoma among low socioeconomic status populations calls for more vigilant primary and secondary prevention education campaigns directed to high-risk, low socioeconomic status individuals and the physicians who care for them,” the researchers wrote.
For more information:
- Cokkindes VE. Arch Dermatol. 2012:doi:10.1001/archdermatol.2011.2779.