Black Patients Have the Highest Mortality Risk For Melanoma of the Head and Neck
Source: Dermatology Advisor, October 2024
Black patients have the highest disease-specific mortality risk among patients with cutaneous melanoma of the head and neck, according to study findings published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Researchers evaluated racial and ethnic differences in disease-specific survival and stage at presentation for patients with head and neck cutaneous melanoma.
Patients diagnosed with biopsy-confirmed cases of invasive head and neck cutaneous melanoma between 2000 and 2020 were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. A total of 80,173 patients with head and neck cutaneous melanoma were included, of whom 96.2% were White, 2.9% were Hispanic (of any race), 0.4% were Asian or Pacific Islander, 0.2% were Black, and 0.2% were American Indian/Alaska Native.