MONDAY, Jan. 23, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- The deadly skin cancer melanoma is increasing among Californians of Hispanic descent, especially men, according to a new study.
What's more, their tumors, when diagnosed, are generally thicker than those of non-Hispanics, which means a poorer outlook, said Myles G. Cockburn, lead author of the study published in the March 1 issue of the journal Cancer.
Hispanics tend to underestimate their risk of melanoma, added Cockburn, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine. "They believe they will be protected because of their [darker] skin color, which may be true but is not always true. Having darker skin is a potentially protective factor for melanoma," he said.
"But light skin is not the most important risk factor," Cockburn said. "The most important risk factor is having a large number of moles. We are talking about large moles over 4 millimeters in diameter, about pencil-eraser size."
Melanoma is a tumor that starts in the melanocytes, the cells that produce the pigment that colors the skin. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, one in 50 Americans by the year 2010 is projected to get melanoma in his or her lifetime. Right now, the risk is about one in 62, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
For the study, Cockburn and his colleagues looked at data from the California Cancer Registry. Between 1988 and 2001, the rate of invasive melanoma increased significantly among Hispanic men compared to Hispanic women and non-Hispanic whites. Overall, the incidence rate among Hispanic men rose an average of 1.8 percent per year, with a 7.3 percent annual increase between 1996 and 2001. Hispanic women's rates also increased, he said, but the 0.6 percent increase was not statistically significant.
Cockburn emphasized that the problem of melanoma is still much more common among fair-skinned individuals. In the study, non-Hispanic men had a 3.9 percent annual increase in melanoma over the years studied, and non-Hispanic women had a 3.3 percent increase.
But the increase in skin cancer among Hispanics points to a need to step up education efforts, Cockburn said. Everyone is advised to get a full body skin check by a dermatologist preferably every six months, Cockburn said, as well as to wear sunblock to minimize penetration of ultraviolet rays.
Especially troubling, Cockburn said, was the finding that thicker melanomas were found in Hispanics, suggesting they may have been discovered at a later stage.
More than 55 percent of invasive tumors in Hispanic males were more than 0.75 millimeters thick, while just 47 percent of those found in non-Hispanic white males were as big. And 35 percent of Hispanic males had tumors more than 1.5 millimeters thick, compared with 24 percent of non-Hispanic white males.
Melanomas less than 1.5 millimeters thick at diagnosis typically mean a 10-year survival rate of 80 percent to 100 percent, according to Cockburn, citing data from the California Cancer Registry. Melanomas thicker than 1.5 millimeters at diagnosis are associated with a 40 percent to 80 percent survival rate, he said.
Dr. Jean-Claude Bystryn is a professor of dermatology at New York University School of Medicine and former head of the melanoma program and vaccine clinic at the NYU Medical Center. He agreed that the Cockburn data suggest Hispanics aren't getting diagnosed with melanoma early enough.
"I'm not aware that this [type of] analysis has been done before," Bystryn said. He also emphasized that melanoma is a bigger problem among those with fairer skin, but education efforts to recognize the warning signs of the disease should be stepped up and targeted to Hispanic populations.
"The general teaching is that melanoma is a disease of whites," he said. "This [study] shows if you are Hispanic, you still have to worry about this disease."
If a mole or other growth looks suspicious, get it checked by your dermatologist, Bystryn said.
More information
To learn more about melanoma, visit the American Cancer Society.
