Abstract

Little is known about melanoma survivors' long-term symptoms, sun protection practices, and support needs from health providers.Melanoma survivors treated at Stanford Cancer Center from 1995 through 2011 were invited to complete a heath needs survey. We compared responses of survivors by sex, education, time since diagnosis (long-term vs. short-term survivors), and extent of treatment received (wide local excision (WLE) alone versus WLE plus additional surgical or medical treatment (WLE+)).One hundred sixty melanoma survivors (51 % male; 61 % long-term; 73 % WLE+) provided evaluable data. On average, patients were 62 years of age (SD?=?14), highly educated (75 % college degree), and Caucasian (94 %). Overall, participants rated anxiety as the most prevalent symptom (34 %). Seventy percent reported that their health provider did not address their symptoms, and 53 % requested education about melanoma-specific issues. Following treatment, women spent significantly less time seeking a tan compared with men (p?=?0.01), had more extremity swelling (p?=?0.014), and expressed higher need for additional services (p?=?0.03). Long-term survivors decreased their use of tanning beds (p?=?0.03) and time spent seeking a tan (p?=?0.002) and were less likely to receive skin screening every 3-6 months (p?

View details for DOI 10.1007/s00520-014-2286-0

View details for PubMedID 24879390