Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world and the rate continues to increase alarmingly, research to be presented to the annual meeting of the Australasian College of Dermatologists in Brisbane on Monday says.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The research found skin cancers account for 80 per cent of all newly diagnosed cancers in Australia. The rate of skin cancers in Australia is nearly four times greater than Britain, the United States and Canada.
Director of the Department of Dermatology at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne Professor Rod Sinclair will present the findings of research conducted as a partnership between the Cancer Council of Victoria, the Centre for Population Health and the Department of Medicine (Dermatology) at the University of Melbourne.
''For this project we analysed data from more than eight million skin cancers treated by surgical excision, curettage, laser or cryosurgery between 1997 and 2010 to identify current prevalence and cost of treatment and trends in prevalence and treatment,'' he said.
This information had been used to predict the prevalence and cost of treating melanoma in 2015.
''Our data indicates that the prevalence and cost to treat skin cancer rose by 86 per cent in the 14 years until end 2010, and we predict that both the number of skin cancers and the cost to government will rise by a further 22 per cent in 2015,'' Professor Sinclair said.
