Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2007 Jun;32(6):517-24.
doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2007.02.024.

Melanoma early detection with thorough skin self-examination: the "Check It Out" randomized trial

Martin A Weinstock  1 , Patricia M Risica, Rosemarie A Martin, William Rakowski, Catherine Dubé, Marianne Berwick, Michael G Goldstein, Suddhasatta Acharyya, Thomas Lasater
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Melanoma early detection with thorough skin self-examination: the "Check It Out" randomized trial

Martin A Weinstock et al. Am J Prev Med. 2007 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Monthly thorough skin self-examination (TSSE) is an important practice for early melanoma detection that is performed by a small minority of the population.

Design: A randomized trial was conducted to determine whether a multicomponent intervention can increase TSSE performance and to describe the effects on performance of skin surgeries compared with a similar control intervention focused on diet.

Setting/participants: One thousand three hundred fifty-six patients attending a routine primary care visit in southeastern New England participated in this trial.

Interventions: Participants received instructional materials, including cues and aids, a video, and a brief counseling session and (at 3 weeks) a brief follow-up phone call (from a health educator) and tailored feedback letters.

Measures: Performance of TSSE assessed by telephone interview and having a surgical procedure performed on the skin were confirmed by examining medical records.

Results: TSSE was performed by substantially more participants at 2, 6, and 12 months in the intervention group than in the control group (55% vs 35%, p<0.0001 at 12 months). We also noted that a substantially higher proportion in the intervention group had skin surgery in the first 6 months (8.0% vs 3.6%, p=0.0005), but there was no difference at 6 to 12 months (3.9% vs 3.3%, p=0.5).

Conclusions: The TSSE intervention was effective in increasing performance of TSSE, in that it resulted in increased surgery on the skin, and that increase in skin procedures only persisted for 6 months. Intervention to increase TSSE may result in long-term benefit in early detection of melanoma while causing only a short-term excess of skin surgeries.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Participant flow in the Check-It-Out project
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proportion of patients with procedures performed on the skin
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Cancer Facts & Figures 2006. Available at: www.cancer.org. Accessed 2-14-2006.

    1. Coory M, Baade P, Aitken J, Smithers M, McLeod GR, Ring I. Trends for in situ and invasive melanoma in Queensland, Australia, 1982-2002. Cancer Causes Control. 2006 Feb;17(1):21–27. - PubMed
    1. Jemal A, Devesa SS, Hartge P, Tucker MA. Recent trends in cutaneous melanoma incidence among whites in the United States. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2001;93:678–683. - PubMed
    1. Cokkinides V, Weinstock M, Glanz K, Albano J, Ward E, Thun M. Trends in sunburns, sun protection practices, and attitudes toward sun exposure protection and tanning among U.S. adolescents, 1998-2004. Pediatrics. 2006 Sep;118(3):853–864. - PubMed
    1. Weinstock MA. Cutaneous melanoma: public health approach to early detection. Dermatol Ther. 2006 Jan-Feb;19(1):26–31. - PubMed

Publication types