Clinical Outcomes of Free, Public Skin Cancer Screening Events, Rhode Island, 2015-2019

In Rhode Island, malignant melanoma of skin causes about 30 deaths a year. Early detection has been shown to reduce mortality risk.Dermatology volunteers and public health professionals convened 27 free skin cancer screenings at public beaches in 2015-2019 to raise skin cancer awareness and screen patients for malignancy. Participants with suspicious lesions were referred for follow-up and later telephoned to ascertain outcomes.Of 2354 people screened, 597 (25%) were referred. 319 of 597 (53%) were later reached by telephone. 196 of 319 (61%) who had kept appointments by the time of the telephone call reported the following diagnoses: 7 malignant melanomas, 32 keratinocyte carcinomas, and 34 actinic keratoses, yielding 3.0 as number needed to biopsy (NNB), and 18.3 as number needed to screen (NNS).Our results demonstrate the value of convenient skin cancer screening events, suggesting the desirability of additional interventions of this type.