Socioeconomic status, race play role in acral melanoma survival

Source: Healio, February 2022

Acral lentiginous melanoma survival is less likely in patients from lower socioeconomic groups, as well as in Black or Hispanic white patients, according to a study.

“Acral melanoma is the most common type of melanoma in people of color and is disproportionately affects minority groups and people in lower socioeconomic status,” Bernice Y. Yan, MD, a dermatologist and investigator at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health and the study’s lead author, told Healio. “We observed people from lower socioeconomic groups had a lower survival in acral melanoma and similarly, certain racial minorities.”

Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of 2,245 patients with a first diagnosis of acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) between 2000 and 2016 using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End results database, of which 469 died from ALM during follow-up.

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