Medical students more frequently misdiagnosed dermatologic disorders in patients with skin of color compared with lighter skin phototypes, according to survey data published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology,

Students at Tulane University School of Medicine and the University of Oklahoma’s College of Medicine were recruited for participation in a 10-item multiple choice quiz. The quiz comprised a series of photos with brief descriptions, for which students were asked to select the most likely skin disorder. The percentage of correctly diagnosed disorders was calculated for 2 categories: patients with Fitzpatrick I-III skin phototypes and patients with Fitzpatrick IV-VI skin phototypes (“skin of color”). Trends in quiz performance were also calculated for specific dermatologic disorders.