Melanoma rates higher in wealthy white women

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Adolescent girls and young women living in wealthy communities were more likely to be diagnosed with melanoma in a new study of skin cancer cases in California. The authors think that might be because wealthier women may be spending lots of time out in the sun - at home and on vacation - and frequenting tanning beds. Its frightening actually, Dr. Elizabeth Tanzi, a dermatologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore who was not involved in the study, told Reuters Health. The message of practicing safe sun is just not getting through to the people that need to heed the warning, said Tanzi, who also heads the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery in Washington, D.C. Melanoma is the most lethal form of skin cancer, killing almost 9,000 people in the U.S. last year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light is known to increase the risk of melanoma.