High Melanoma Rates in the American Indian and Alaska Native Population —a Unique Challenge

In the Navajo language, cancer is broadly described as łóód dóó nádzi híí, which translates directly as a “sore that does not heal.” Accurate determination of cancer incidence in a specified population is a critical first step toward addressing disease burden. Previous studies have shown that racial misclassification is a problem that hinder s epidemiologic research in American Indian/Alaska Native populations and underestimates American Indian/Alaska Native cancer incidence. In this issue of JAMA Dermatology, Townsend et al use a method that corrects for racial misclassification among American Indian/Alaska Native patients with melanom a and show that the non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native population has the second highest incidence of melanoma and a rising incidence of late-stage melanoma diagnoses. This melanoma incidence (10.7 per 100 000) is nearly double those previously published (4.5 to 5.5 per 100 000) behind n on-Hispanic White patients (21.9 to 32.2 per 100 000). These findings suggest that previous studies may have overlooked American Indian/Alaska Native health disparities and underscore the importance of minimizing racial misclassification in this population.
Source: JAMA Dermatology - Category: Dermatology Source Type: research