Figure 1.

Association between underarm spectrophotometer reading and self-reported natural skin color in the VIRUSCAN Study, Tampa, FL, 2014–2017. A strong positive correlation was observed between the baseline underarm spectrophotometer readings and self-reported natural skin color.

^aLower values of the underarm spectrophotometer readings represent darker skin pigmentation.

^bSelf-reported natural skin color was assessed with the New Immigrant Survey Color Scale which included images of hands in a variety of skin shades categorized as ranging from 0 to 10, with 0 representing the lightest skin and 10 representing the darkest skin.

^cThe Jonckheere-Terpstra test was used to determine if a trend existed between underarm spectrophotometer readings and self-reported natural skin color.