Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Jul 24, 2022; 13(7): 587-598
Published online Jul 24, 2022. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v13.i7.587
Awareness, knowledge, and attitudes towards sun protection among patients with melanoma and atypical mole syndrome
Dimitra Koumaki, Marios Papadakis, Stamatoula Kouloumvakou, Konstantinos Krasagakis
Dimitra Koumaki, Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Heraklion, Heraklion 71110, Greece
Marios Papadakis, Department of Surgery II, University of Witten-Herdecke, Wuppertal 42283, Germany
Stamatoula Kouloumvakou, Department of Internal Medicine, Agios Nikolaos General Hospital, Agios Nikolaos 72100, Greece
Konstantinos Krasagakis, Department of Dermatology, University of Crete, Heraklion 71110, Greece
Author contributions: Koumaki D, Papadakis M, and Krasagakis K contributed to designing the study; Koumaki D contributed to collecting and analyzing the data, and writing the paper; Papadakis M contributed to analyzing the data; Kouloumvakou S contributed to collecting the data; Koumaki D, Papadakis M, and Krasagakis K contributed to revising and approving the paper.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the institutional review board of the University Hospital of Heraklion, Greece.
Informed consent statement: All patients gave informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The datasets used for analysis are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Marios Papadakis, MD, MSc, PhD, Consultant Physician-Scientist, Doctor, Research Scientist, Department of Surgery II, University of Witten-Herdecke, Heusnerstrasse 40, Wuppertal 42283, Germany. marios_papadakis@yahoo.gr
Received: February 26, 2022
Peer-review started: February 26, 2022
First decision: March 7, 2022
Revised: March 18, 2022
Accepted: June 22, 2022
Article in press: June 22, 2022
Published online: July 24, 2022
Processing time: 145 Days and 12.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Patients with atypical mole syndrome (AMS) have a 3- to 20-fold higher risk of developing malignant melanoma (MM) than individuals without. The most modifiable risk factor for developing MM is the ongoing ultraviolet exposure.

AIM

To assess awareness, knowledge, and attitudes towards sun protection among patients with MM and AMS.

METHODS

From January 2020 till December 2021, a written survey was administered to patients with MM and AMS and a control group who attended a specialist mole clinic at the Dermatology Department of the University Hospital of Heraklion in Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Demographic data and photoprotective practices, knowledge, and perceived barriers were collected. Relevant statistical analyses were performed using SPSS IBM 25.

RESULTS

In total, 121 subjects consented and participated in the survey. Their mean age was 43.92 ± 12.55 years. There were 66 (54.4%) females and 55 (45.4%) males. Forty-seven (38.8%) patients had AMS, 26 (21.5%) had a past medical history of MM, and 48 (39.7%) attended the clinic for a full skin checkup for their naevi without having AMS or MM. Although 104 (86%) participants reported using sunscreen with the majority of them (59/121 = 48.8%) wearing sunscreen with a sun protection factor of > 50, only 22 (18.2%) patients did so every day and only 20 (16.5%) all year round. Approximately 74.4% of patients recalled having received advice on how to protect their skin from sunlight, and 73% were interested in receiving education about sun protection. The most mentioned barriers in photoprotection were concerns over adequate vitamin D and lack of time.

CONCLUSION

Despite mentioning having received adequate education in photoprotection, adherence to photoprotection practices is suboptimal in patients with MM and AMS.

Keywords: Atypical mole syndrome; Dysplastic naevi; Malignant melanoma; Photoprotection; Skin cancer

Core Tip: There are no previous studies assessing awareness, knowledge, and attitudes towards sun protection among patients with malignant melanoma (MM) and atypical mole syndrome (AMS). Our study highlights the importance to raise awareness regarding photoprotection in patients with MM and AMS to prevent skin cancer.