Melanoma rates are increasing rapidly among Hispanics, researchers in California report.

“Regardless of whether the patient in front of you is Latino or non-Latino white, it is just as important to remind them of the importance of sun smart behavior, regular skin self examination (once a month) and regular professional skin examination (once a year),” Dr. Myles G. Cockburn from the University of South California/Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, told Reuters Health. “The same goes for all other racial/ethnic groups.”

Cockburn and his associates evaluated the recent trends in melanoma incidence and mortality in the Hispanic population of California and compared these with trends among the non-Hispanic white population.

The incidence of invasive melanoma among Hispanic males increased 1.8 percent annually between 1988 and 2001 but accelerated to 7.3 percent annually between 1996 and 2001, the authors report in the January 23rd advance issue of Cancer.

Between 1988 and 2001, the rate increased 3.9 percent annually among non-Hispanic white men, 3.3 percent annually among non-Hispanic white women, and 0.6 percent annually among Hispanic women.

Mortality rates from melanoma did not change significantly in any group, the results indicate, except among non-Hispanic white females, whose mortality declined 1.7 percent per year during this interval.

Tumors thicker than 1.5 millimeter at diagnosis were more prevalent among Hispanic males (35.4 percent of tumors) than among non-Hispanic white males (24.4 percent of tumors), the researchers note.

The rate of thicker tumors also increased faster (15.4 percent annually) among Hispanic males than among non-Hispanic white males (11.6 percent), the report indicates. Thick tumors also increased among Hispanic females (8.9 percent per year).

“These are problematic trends because thicker melanomas have a substantially poorer prognosis than thin melanomas,” the investigators explain.

“Latinos in California have a wide variety of skin colors from very light to very dark,” Cockburn pointed out. “It could be that we can learn much about the causes of melanoma by contrasting risk factors in Latino and non-Latino populations - perhaps it is their sun exposure behavior that is responsible for the difference or some underlying genetic differences.”

SOURCE: Cancer, January 23, 2006.