Let me rephrase....skin cancers that are more dangerous, melanomas, etc...tend to have worse outcomes in darker complexions. That's what I have read.
It has been years since reading so my memory is probably off..
Multiple studies have demonstrated that 5-year melanoma survival rates of Blacks and Hispanics are consistently lower than those of Caucasians (Reintgen et al, 1982; Rahman and Taylor, 2001; Byrd et al, 2004;). Compared with Caucasians, Hispanics and Blacks tend to present with more advanced, thicker tumors and thus tend to have a poorer prognosis, with higher mortality. In a review of California melanoma cases, tumors thicker than 1.5 mm at presentation increased at 11.6% per year and 8.9% per year among Hispanic males and females, respectively (Cockburn et al, 2006). In a retrospective analysis of case reports to the Florida Cancer Data system, late stage (regional and distant) was more common among Hispanic (26%) and Black patients (52%) compared with caucasians (16%) (Hu et al, 2006). Interestingly, in a review of California melanoma cases, it was shown that even after adjustments for age, sex, histology, stage, anatomic site, treatment, and socioeconomic status, a statistically significant increased risk of death was observed for Blacks compared with Caucasians (Zell et al, 2008). Hence, the poor survival for Black patients with melanoma is not fully explained by differences in treatment or socioeconomic status. All of these results indicated that more primary and secondary prevention efforts are warranted for the control of melanoma in all races/ethnicities, even for those persons who are at a lower risk of developing the disease (Friedman et al, 1994).
congrats NW CT
