Racial Disparities in Patients with Melanoma: A Multivariate Survival Analysis

Purpose As the most common cause of skin cancer death, incidence and mortality of melanoma vary widely between ethnic and racial groups. Methods Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data were used to examine the incidence and survival in patients with melanoma concerning race and ethnicity in Wayne County, Michigan between 2000 and 2016. Results Analysis of data revealed significantly higher melanoma-specific death in non-Hispanic black patients compared to their non-Hispanic white counterparts (p <0.001). However, no increased risk of death due to melanoma was observed following adjustment of data for the stage, age, and sex (H.R. = 1.00, 95% CI 0.64–1.56). Conclusion Non-Hispanic black patients have the highest percentage of late-stage melanoma. Increased incidence of melanoma mortality in non-Hispanic black patients is likely a consequence of late-stage diagnosis.