Dark Skinned People Should Beware Skin Cancer
Reported July 28, 2006
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Many dark-skinned people don’t worry much about skin cancer.
That’s unwise, report University of Cincinnati researchers who reviewed more than 50 years’ worth of data on skin cancer in populations around the world. It’s true that blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and other dark-skinned people are significantly less likely to develop skin cancer than whites, but when they do get the disease, they are much more likely to die from it. This is because darker-skinned people aren’t as concerned about skin cancer; they’re more likely to be diagnosed during later and more severe stages of the disease, according to the study.
The study also reveals skin cancer might have a different cause in dark-skinned people than in whites. Specifically, the researchers found dark-skinned people were 8.5-times more likely to develop a certain type of skin cancer known as squamous cell carcinoma on areas of the body that don’t receive regular exposure to the sun (such as the soles of the feet, palms of the hands, toes, and mucous membranes) than they are on areas that receive sun exposure. This leads them to suggest this type of cancer may not be as tied to sun exposure in blacks as it is in whites.
The same is true for melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. Those cancers were also found more often on areas not exposed to the sun in dark-skinned people.
The authors note dark-skinned people will make up 50 percent of the U.S. population by the year 2050 — a fact they believe calls for better public awareness of skin cancer risks among ethnic minorities.
SOURCE: Presented at the summer meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology July 27, 2006, San Diego
