2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

Home Events & Meetings Annual Meeting Schedule & Program

Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

325887
Multivariate Survival Analysis of UV Exposure Skin Cancer in Florida Adults (1981 – 2009)


Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Kevin Moore, BA, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Erin Dunn, BA, MD/MPH Candidate, Medical Education and Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Feng Miao, MSc, Department of Public Health Sciences, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Tulay Koru-Sengul, MHS, PhD, Department of Public Health Sciences, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Introduction: UV radiation is one of the major etiologic agents for skin cancer development. UV-related skin cancers (UVC) include lentigo malignant melanoma and melonomas of acral lentiginous and superficial spreading type. We report the demographics and survival trends of UV-related skin cancers from 1981-2009 in adult (>=18 yrs) Florida population.

Methods:The Florida Cancer Data System (1981-2009) was linked with US census to explore median survival and 1-, 3-, 5-year survival rates. Survival was compared by gender, race, ethnicity, SES and modeled with multivariate Cox regression to calculate adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI).

 Results: There were 15,289 patients with UVC. Majority were male (58%), White (99%) and middle-high/highest SES (76%). Overall median survival time was 5.5 yrs (95%CI: 5.4-5.7) where median survival time was higher in females (6.5 (6.0-7.0) than males (5.1; 5.0-6.5), White (5.6; 5.4-5.7) than Black (3.3; 2.9-4.4). The overall 5-yr survival rate was 54.3% where the rate for Black (24.9%) was lower than White (54.5%). Blacks showed a significantly worse survival (AHR=[1.71];1.09-2.7) than Whites. Females had significantly better survival than men ([0.73];0.68-0.78). Current smokers showed significantly worse survival than those who had never smoked ([1.36];1.21–1.53).

Conclusions: Our results show evident disparities across gender, race, ethnicity, and SES in UVC survival. Increased awareness of the importance of skin protection from the sun and the dangers of tanning beds can help to reduce the burden of UVC. Identifying the groups with the greatest burden of UVC is necessary to provide group-specific and targeted interventions.

Learning Areas:

Environmental health sciences
Epidemiology
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Identify groups with the greatest burden of UV exposure skin cancer. Discuss disparities in mortality trends for UV exposure skin cancer.

Keyword(s): Cancer, Climate and Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a second-year medical student researching cancer disparities.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4295.0: Public Health Project Roundtable