Patient-reported frequency of acral surface inspection during skin examination in white and ethnic minority patients.
BACKGROUND
Acral lentiginous melanomas compose a higher proportion of melanomas and have a higher mortality in ethnic minorities than in whites. Early detection by acral surface inspection during skin examinations may lead to improved acral lentiginous melanoma outcomes.


OBJECTIVE
This study compared patient-reported frequencies of acral skin examinations in ethnic and white populations.


METHODS
Written surveys were collected from 1040 dermatology clinic patients.


RESULTS
More whites reported performing self-skin examinations than ethnic minorities (P < .01), but there was no difference in the rates of hand (P = .7) or foot (P = .87) inspection during self-skin examination between whites and ethnic minorities. More whites (77.5%) than ethnic minorities (38.9%) reported having undergone a full-body skin examination (FBSE) from a health care provider (P < .01). During their most recent FBSE by a health care provider, more whites than ethnic minorities reported having their hands examined (P = .02), but there was no difference in reported hand inspection (P = .06) at any previous FBSE or foot inspection at any (P = .07) or the most recent (P = .59) FBSE between whites and ethnic minorities.


CONCLUSIONS
Single-center study using a new unvalidated survey is a limitation.


CONCLUSIONS
Whites were found to more frequently report self-skin examination and FBSE than ethnic minorities, but significant differences in reported acral examinations were not detected.
Division of Dermatology, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, California.
Monica S
MS
Tsai
Division of Dermatology, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, California. Electronic address: mchiu@mednet.ucla.edu.
Melvin W
MW
Chiu
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles; D035002:Lower Extremity; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044468:Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016353:Self-Examination; D012867:Skin; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology; D034941:Upper Extremity; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
acral lentiginous melanoma; ethnic skin; patient survey; plantar surface inspection; skin of color; skin examination