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Awareness of deadly skin disease low
May 2, 1997
Web posted at: 11:00 p.m. EDTATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A high proportion of U.S. residents are unaware of the dangers of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, according to a survey released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Dermatology
Forty-two percent of those surveyed had no knowledge of the disease, with the level of awareness lowest among people ages 18 to 24 years.
The survey also found the level of melanoma awareness to be directly related to levels of education and income. Of those with annual incomes of less than $20,000, 60 percent reported they did not recognize the term melanoma. Only 31 percent of those with annual incomes of $75,000 or more reported no knowledge of the disease.
Skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States. Although the incidence of melanoma is lower than other types of skin cancer, it has the highest death rate.
From 1973 through 1992, the death rate for melanoma increased 48 percent in U.S. men. And the CDC says the rate continues to rise despite the ease with which the disease can be treated, if detected early, or completely prevented. The five-year survival rate for early-stage melanoma is 93 percent compared with 15 percent for late-stage melanoma, according to the American Cancer Society.
In 1996, there were an estimated one million cases of skin cancer; 5 percent of those melanoma.
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