ASPO Abstracts

Randomized trial of precision prevention materials to improve short-term primary skin cancer prevention activities among Hispanics

Authors: Lacson JCA, Doyle SH, Del Rio J, Forgas SM, Carvajal R, Gonzalez-Calderon G, Kim Y, Ramírez A, Roetzheim R, Soto-Torres B, Torres NS, Sutton SK, Vadaparampil ST, Kanetsky PA

Category: Culture and Cancer
Conference Year: 2021

Abstract Body:
PURPOSE To determine whether provision of MC1R-based precision prevention materials influences primary skin cancer prevention behavior in Hispanics. METHODS Hispanic participants were recruited from eight clinics in Tampa, FL and Ponce, PR. DNA from saliva was sequenced at the MC1R locus. Participants were block-randomized within MC1R higher-risk and average-risk groups into the intervention arm (MC1R genotype, precision prevention materials) or standard arm (generic prevention materials). At baseline, we collected information on demographics, phenotypic characteristics, health literacy and numeracy, family history of skin cancers, and familism. Information on reported hours of weekday and weekend sun exposure, frequency of sun protection behaviors, numbers of sunburns, and frequency of intentional outdoor tanning were obtained at baseline and at three months. Separately within MC1R risk groups, we conducted multivariate linear regression to examine the effect of the precision prevention intervention on each 3-month outcome, adjusting for the baseline outcome measure. Intervention moderation was assessed by adding an interaction term between the moderator and study arm. RESULTS We randomized 920 participants, and 493 (53.6%) completed the 3-month survey. We did not find evidence of an intervention effect for any outcome measure among either average- or higher-risk participants. Although phenotypic characteristics moderated the intervention effect on several outcomes (p's<0.05), there was no consistent pattern. Familism moderated the intervention effect on weekend sun exposure among average- risk participants (p=0.01); the intervention increased weekend sun exposure for those with above-median familism scores and decreased it for those with below-median scores. CONCLUSIONS In this Hispanic study sample, we did not find any main effects of our precision prevention intervention, which may be attributed, in part, to our modest power to detect small differences. Although skin phototypes did not moderate intervention effects, other traits, such as freckling, hair and eye color, did, warranting further exploration. Lastly, future studies may want to explore familism and how this social construct may affect sun behavior.

Keywords: Skin Cancer, Hispanic, Familism, Sun Behavior, Precision Prevention