Melanoma Among Non-Hispanic Black Americans

Melanoma Among Non-Hispanic Black Americans

ORIGINAL RESEARCH — Volume 16 — June 20, 2019

MaryBeth B. Culp, MPH1; Natasha Buchanan Lunsford, PhD2 (View author affiliations)

Suggested citation for this article: Culp MB, Lunsford NB. Melanoma Among Non-Hispanic Black Americans. Prev Chronic Dis 2019;16:180640. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd16.180640external icon.

PEER REVIEWED

On This Page

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Acknowledgments
• Author Information
• References
• Tables

Summary

What is already known on this topic?

Non-Hispanic black people have lower incidence rates of melanoma than non-Hispanic white people; however, non-Hispanic black people are typically diagnosed at a later stage, have different proportions of histologic types of melanoma, and have poorer survival rates than non-Hispanic white people.

What is added by this report?

From 2011 through 2015, the histology of most melanomas diagnosed among non-Hispanic black patients was acral lentiginous melanoma. Five-year relative survival rates for acral lentiginous melanoma are lower than for the predominant histologic type diagnosed among non-Hispanic white people.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Improved education of health care providers about incidence of acral lentiginous melanoma among non-Hispanic black people is needed because of its atypical presentation and poor survival rates for this cancer.

Abstract

Introduction

Few studies have examined melanoma incidence and survival rates among non-Hispanic black populations because melanoma risk is lower among this group than among non-Hispanic white populations. However, non-Hispanic black people are often diagnosed with melanoma at later stages, and the predominant histologic types of melanomas that occur in non-Hispanic black people have poorer survival rates than the most common types among non-Hispanic white people.

Methods

We used the US Cancer Statistics 2001–2015 Public Use Research Database to examine melanoma incidence and 5-year survival among non-Hispanic black US populations.

Results

From 2011 through 2015, the overall incidence of melanoma among non-Hispanic black people was 1.0 per 100,000, and incidence increased with age. Although 63.8% of melanomas in non-Hispanic black people were of unspecified histology, the most commonly diagnosed defined histologic type was acral lentiginous melanoma (16.7%). From 2001 through 2014, the relative 5-year melanoma survival rate among non-Hispanic black people was 66.2%.

Conclusion

Although incidence of melanoma is relatively rare among non-Hispanic black populations, survival rates lag behind rates for non-Hispanic white populations. Improved public education is needed about incidence of acral lentiginous melanoma among non-Hispanic black people along with increased awareness among health care providers.