Skin cancer more deadly in Hispanics and blacks, study suggests

MIAMI (AP) — Melanoma may be more common in whites, but a study suggests that skin cancer is deadlier in blacks and Hispanics because of late diagnosis.

According to a study by the University of Miami, blacks are more than three times as likely as whites to be diagnosed with melanoma after it has reached a late stage. Hispanics are nearly twice as likely as whites to be diagnosed in the late stage.

The study is published in the journal Archives of Dermatology. It analyzed almost 17-hundred melanoma cases in Miami-Dade County from 1997 through 2002. Researchers are now reviewing data from Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers. It's about twice as common in men as in women and is becoming more common in children and young adults.

The American Cancer Society estimates that more than ten-thousand people will die from skin cancer this year, nearly 80 percent from melanoma.