Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Have Poorer Melanoma Outcomes than White Patients

Source: Berkeley Public Health

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (API) are diagnosed less frequently with skin cancer than White Americans. But they have higher mortality rates once diagnosed, a new study shows.

“Asian and Pacific Islander patients with melanoma have a 27% increased risk of mortality compared to White patients,” said Yixuan James Zheng, a medical student at UCSF, Berkeley Public Health alumnus, and co-author of the study. “Their poor survival rate is often overlooked in the US.”

In a paper published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology in August 2020, researchers reported that API patients had lower chances of surviving melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer, and a higher chance of late diagnosis than White patients did. “The later the cancer is diagnosed, the worse the outcome is,” said Zheng.

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