LOS ANGELES , CA, UNITED STATES, January 18, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Melanoma is serious skin cancer which could lead to death. The outcomes of a melanoma diagnosis are directly related to how early it is detected. Therefore, early detection and screening are critical for this disease. Unfortunately, outcomes for melanoma treatment may differ based on race or socioeconomic status. Previous studies of disparities among melanoma patients, however, have traditionally included a combination of patients both with and without health insurance, making it difficult to separate the effects of various sociodemographic factors.

A new study in SKIN: The Journal of Cutaneous Medicine^® sought to quantify the effect of various socioeconomic factors on overall mortality with an insured population of patients diagnosed with melanoma at both a large vertically integrated healthcare system and in the private insurance sector. Amanda Rosenthal, MD, and her colleagues used data from the California Cancer Registry to study 14,614 adults diagnosed with both early and late stage melanoma.
Dr. Rosenthal and colleagues found that as socioeconomic status decreased, the risk of death increased in the overall population. Patients in the vertically integrated healthcare system had statistically significantly lower death rates compared to their private insurance counterparts.

Dr. Rosenthal and colleagues also found that the poorest patients in both the vertically integrated healthcare system and the private insurance sector had a 47% and 80% greater risk of death respectively. The authors results suggest that disparities in overall mortality exist, even in a group with health insurance and that lower socioeconomic status is an important factor in this disparity. Further studies are needed to discover ways to improve the melanoma death rate in patients in this higher risk group.

DOI: 10.25251/skin.6.1.8

SKIN: The Journal of Cutaneous Medicine^® is a peer-reviewed online medical journal that is the official journal of The National Society for Cutaneous Medicine. The mission of SKIN is to provide an enhanced and accelerated route to disseminate new dermatologic knowledge for all aspects of cutaneous disease.

For more details please visit www.jofskin.org or contact jofskin@gmail.com.

Amanda Rosenthal
Department of Dermatology, Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Med
amanda.x.rosenthal@kp.org