title: Comparison of Florida skin cancer screening rates with those in different US regions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Florida has the second highest incidence of melanoma in the United States, and more than 600 Floridians die from melanoma annually. Given the lack of population-based data on skin cancer screening among the different US geographic regions, we compared skin cancer screening rates among Floridians to those in the rest of the South, the Northeast, the Midwest, and the West.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from the 2000 and 2005 National Health Interview Survey. Data were grouped according to whether participants reported ever receiving a skin cancer examination in their lifetime. Data were pooled, and analyses accounted for sample weights and design effects. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed with self-reported skin screening as the outcome of interest.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results showed that compared to the rest of the US, Floridians who were women 70 years old and older, reported being of "other" race, of non-Hispanic ethnicity, having a high school education, having health insurance, and employed in the service industry or unemployed, had significantly higher lifetime skin cancer screening rates than their subgroup counterparts residing in the other regions. Multivariable logistic regression showed that Floridians remained significantly more likely to have ever been screened for skin cancer compared to the other US regions after controlling for a variety of sociodemographic variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Increasing melanoma detection remains a national cancer goal for the US, and future identification of underlying causal factors for higher screening rates in Florida could inform intervention strategies in the other US regions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health and Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery and the Division of Biostatistics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, 1120 NW 14th St, Miami, FL 33137, USA. CFernandez5@med.miami.edu
authors.forename: Cristina A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: McClure
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Leblanc
authors.forename: Tainya C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Kirsner
authors.forename: Lora E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Fleming
authors.forename: Kristopher L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Arheart
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult