PracticeUpdate: Dermatology - Vol 1 - No.1 - 2017

CONFERENCE COVERAGE 16

Modified Fitzpatrick scale promising as tool for grading skin cancer risk in people of colour In non-Caucasian populations, education is needed regarding sunscreen use and the importance of seeking medical attention for suspicious nevi. In addition, physicians need to spend more time discussing skin cancer risk. A modified Fitzpatrick scale shows promise for future use in assessing skin cancer risk in these groups, find results of an internet- based survey. J ames A. Solomon, MD, PhD, of the University of Central Florida, Orlando, said, “This survey is part of the beta

to nearly 150 questions. We are afforded hundreds of participants. They can log on or log off at will, and address hundreds of questions concerning lifestyle, work, food, skin care, health habits, treatment compli- ance, and more. They will also log on every month to note and time stamp any changes in their disease states as well as the rest of their lifestyle, diet, exposures, work, and additional factors.” He added, “We will use complex adaptive systems statistics to analyse these data in a nonlinear non- time-dependent manner to establish arrays of patients with sim- ilar outcomes. The platform will include not only the modified Fitzpatrick scale but also expand on racial/ethnic background to allow participants to identify all countries/ regions where they have heritage.”

Ajay Kailas, BS, also of the University of Central Florida, explained that malignant melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma account for approximately 40% of all neoplasms among the Caucasian population. Skin cancer is, in fact, the most common malignancy in the US. Despite the high rate of skin cancer, however, minimal data is available regard- ing skin cancer in people of colour. The incidence of skin cancer in the US is approximately 5% for Hispanics, 4% for Asians, and 2% for African Americans, affecting 4.5 million people of colour in the US every year. Furthermore, the 5-year survival rates for melanoma are 58.2% for African-Americans, 69.7% for Hispan- ics, and 70.9% for Asians vs 79.8% for Caucasians. Though these groups experience lower incidences of skin cancer (melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carci- noma), they exhibit higher death rates. The literature suggests that lack of aware- ness of melanoma among ethnic minorities is one of the main reasons for their poor skin cancer prognosis. Mr Kailas and col- leagues set out to assess skin cancer knowledge, awareness, and sun-protective behaviour among people of colour via an online survey promoted via social media. From August to December 2016, a link to an internet-based survey and short excerpt detailing the purpose of the survey was posted several times a week in social media groups such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, with the intent of recruit- ing subjects from the general public. The social media groups included ethnic inter- est groups and skin cancer awareness groups as well as general groups. The sur- vey consisted of 80 questions. Pearson’s chi square test was used to ana- lyse the data. All tests were two-sided. Data was analysed using SPSS 22.0 (IBM). The global survey received 211 responses. The population was mostly female (76%) and represented younger age groups. The results demonstrated gaps in sunscreen use, behavioural differences, and patient satisfaction between Caucasian and ethnic groups. Sunscreen use was more prevalent among Caucasians than people of colour,

testing of a new platform to utilise the internet to interact globally with patients to perform continuous quality improvement assessments.” “The platform will allow participants to log on and off via one server. A number will be assigned to the patient interactive form, which will be seen by researchers. Beta testing has shown an absence of patient survey burnout if correct questions are asked and participants are recruited via the internet globally in more than one language.” He elaborated, “Beta testing has used Sur- veyMonkey. This platform allows only one chance to complete surveys with dozens

© 2017 American Academy of Dermatology Association.

PRACTICEUPDATE DERMATOLOGY