Factors identified for self-exam compliance among melanoma patients

Certain factors may predict compliance with skin self-examination (SSE) among melanoma patients, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Investigative Dermatology, held May 18 to 21 in Portland, Oregon.

Daniel J. Lewis, M.D., from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, and colleagues sought to identify factors associated with adherence to SSE recommendations. The analysis included 369 melanoma patients with their first melanoma within six months of an original Pigmented Lesion Clinic (PLC) visit and who were followed for at least 2.5 years (2012 to 2018).

The researchers note that at their most recent visit during the study period, 60.5 percent of participants reported doing home SSE since their prior PLC visit. Factors significantly associated with SSE included younger age (odds ratio, 0.98 for each year increase in age), female sex (odds ratio, 1.60), increased disease severity as assessed by calculating expected eight-year survival (odds ratio, 2.17), and having a significant other to help with the examination (odds ratio, 2.51). Adherence was not associated with having had total body photography, having an increased number of nevi, or having had more than one melanoma.

"Understanding which patients may be nonadherent allows us to improve targeting of efforts aimed towards increasing adherence to patient populations less likely to comply," the authors write.