Association of Socioeconomic Status With Breslow Thickness and Disease-Free and Overall Survival in Stage I-II Primary Cutaneous Melanoma

OBJECTIVE To investigate the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on Breslow thickness, disease-free survival, and overall survival in patients with stage I-II primary cutaneous melanoma (PCM). PATIENTS AND METHODS The study consists of all consecutive patients who were diagnosed as having PCM and were treated and followed up at our hospital between November 1, 1998, and July 31, 2009. Pathologic and sociodemographic characteristics of the patients were obtained. We categorized SES into 3 levels: low (manual employees and skilled/unskilled workers, including farmers, with primary education level), middle (nonmanual employees and clerks with middle education level), and high (professionals, executives, administrators, and entrepreneurs with tertiary education). RESULTS A total of 1443 consecutive patients were evaluated. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, sex (female vs male: odds ratio [OR], 1.37; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08-1.75), SES (high vs middle: OR, 1.27; 95% CI, 0.96-1.69; high vs low: OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.26-2.38), age ( CONCLUSION In patients with PCM, low SES is associated with thicker melanoma and a poorer clinical outcome.