Table 1.

Selection of patients with diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma, years 1991–1999 (N= 31,244)

Removed	Remained	Patients removed (compared to those who remained) were more likely to have these characteristics
Patients age <66 at diagnosis (8,630)	N= 22,614	Married, non-white, less poor, invasive stage
Patients for whom melanoma was not the first diagnosis of cancer (4,230)	N= 18,384	Older (75+), male, married, less poor, white, in situ stage
Patients without full coverage of Medicare Part A & Part B, during 12 months before diagnosis and 6 months after diagnosis (1,478)	N= 16,906	Younger (66–74), male, poor, non-white
Patients at HMO, during 12 months before diagnosis and 6 months after diagnosis (4,095)	N= 12,811	Male, married, non-white
Patients with in situ (4,652) or localized (4,765) or unknown (702) historic stage at diagnosis	N= 1,346	Younger (66–74), unmarried, less poor
Patients with unknown census tract poverty level (27)	N= 1,319	Non-white
Non-white patients (80)	N= 1,239	Poor
	regional (1,032), & distant (207)

HMO= health management organization