"It's Like You Stuck a Pin in It:" African American/Black Patients Describe Cutaneous Toxicity From Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Inhibitors.
Nguyen H Tran, Phuong L Nguyen, Nichole A Martin and 3 others
PMID 35442101WHAT IT FOUND
African American/Black patients described EGFR inhibitor rash as bumps, darkened skin, itching, and pain.
They said it was visible, uncomfortable, and sometimes led them to avoid short sleeves or take pain pills.
Key findings
01Patients described acne-like bumps, pus, and darkened skin.
02Patients described pain that could burn, sting, or itch.
03Patients linked the rash to cosmetic distress and taking pain pills.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 15 patients were interviewed, so it cannot say how common these skin symptoms are or whether they apply to all African American/Black patients on EGFR inhibitors. Patients were not required to have a visible rash, but the study may have selected people who already had skin toxicity. This was a substudy of a larger photo-elicitation project and focused on one interview question, so it describes how patients talked about symptoms, not how severe they were, when they started, or what caused them. The time from rash development to interview varied widely and was missing for one patient, so some descriptions may depend on memory.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these 15 patient descriptions as evidence about how often African American/Black patients get EGFR inhibitor rash or whether moisturizers, pain pills, or dose reductions work. The study asked patients to describe what they noticed; it did not test a treatment.