Epidemiology
A study of the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer from 1992 to 2006 in the United States was performed by the dermatologist Howard Rogers, MD, PhD, and his colleagues based on the evaluation of Medicare databases. The results of their research showed that cases of non-melanoma skin cancer rose an average of 4.2% a year.
More than 3.5 million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed annually in the United States, which makes it the most common form of cancer in that country. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, one in five Americans will develop skin cancer at some point of their lives. The first most common form of skin cancer is basal cell carcinoma, followed by the squamous cell carcinoma. Although the incidence of many cancers in the United States is falling, the incidence of melanoma keeps growing, with approximately 68,729 melanomas diagnosed in 2004 according to reports of the National Cancer Institute.
The survival rate for patients with melanoma depends upon when they start treatment. The cure rate is very high when melanoma is detected in early stages, when it can easily be removed surgically. The prognosis is less favorable if the melanoma has spread to other parts of the body.
In the UK, 84,500 non-melanoma skin cancers were registered in 2007 although a study estimated that at least 100,000 cases are diagnosed each year. Most NMSCs were basal cell carcinomas or squamous cell carcinomas. In 2007, 10,672 cases of malignant melanoma were diagnosed.
Australia and New Zealand exhibits one of the highest rates of skin cancer incidence in the world, almost four times the rates registered in the United States, the UK and Canada. Around 434,000 people receive treatment for non-melanoma skin cancers and 10,300 are treated for melanoma. Melanoma is the common type of cancer in people between 15–44 years in both countries. This is largely due to the ozone hole located over the Tasman Sea, making prolonged unprotected outdoor sun exposure very dangerous.
Read more about this topic: Skin Cancer