Hispanic patients are more likely than non-Hispanic White patients to have melanoma diagnosed at stage IV versus stage I, according to a study published online March 13 in SKIN.
Julia Griffin, from the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska, and colleagues conducted a retrospective study using data from the National Cancer Database including 2,282 Hispanic patients and 190,469 non-Hispanic White patients with stage I to IV malignant melanoma.
The researchers found that compared with non-Hispanic White patients, Hispanic patients had 2.50 times higher odds of being diagnosed with stage IV versus stage I melanoma. Statistically significant differences were seen for non-Hispanic White versus Hispanic patients for insurance status, income, education, facility type, facility location, urban/rural residency, Charlson-Deyo score, and stage.
"Melanoma's incidence is rapidly increasing, just as the Hispanic population is the most dramatically growing demographic group in the United States," the authors write. "These conclusions increase our competence of health disparities affecting Hispanic patients and exemplify that we must mobilize resources to reach vulnerable populations, complete melanoma research among diverse populations, and educate patients about skin cancer to address this growing public health concern."