More non-melanoma cancers ‘unacceptable’
Reported October 15, 2008
A new government report has found that 434,000 Australians will be diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancer this year, a finding that Cancer Council Australia says is unacceptable.
A new report into non-melanoma skin cancer will be released on the internet Wednesday, with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and the government agency Cancer Australia finding an increased prevalence of the disease.
The report was compiled to better understand and record the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancers.
Unlike other cancers, non-melanoma skin cancer is not reportable by law to cancer registries, leaving huge gaps in the statistics available about the disease.
Non-melanoma skin cancers are the commonest form of skin cancers, but are much less serious than the melanoma variety of the disease.
The AIHW-Cancer Australia report finds that this year 434,000 people will be diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancers, up from 370,000 in 2002.
Hospital stays more than doubled between 1993-94 and 2006-07, from nearly 36,000 to 79,792, the report also found.
Men were being treated more than women, with a 75 per cent higher hospitalisation rate than their female counterparts.
In 2006, 410 people died because of the skin cancers, the report found.
Professor Ian Olver, of the non-government organisation Cancer Council Australia, said the findings were unacceptable, given non-melanoma skin cancers were preventable by taking greater care in the sun.
While non-melanoma cancers accounted for only one per cent of cancer deaths in Australia, the high rate of treatment poses a huge burden on health system.
The cost of treating non-melanoma skin cancers was estimated to be $260 million in 2001, but that figure would have risen significantly since then, Prof Olver said.
“It is unacceptable that around 434,000 people are treated each year for a cancer that is almost entirely preventable through appropriate sun protection,” he said.
“Non-melanoma skin cancer imposes an enormous burden on an already straining health system, yet it can be almost entirely prevented by appropriate protection from UV radiation.”
The report also found that there were an estimated 950,000 GP visits for the disease, with the number of men seeking attention double that of women.
Prof Olver said the report findings highlighted the need to reinforce the Sun Smart message.
“The greatest harm from UV exposure occurs in childhood and adolescence, yet the damage in the form of non-melanoma skin cancers usually occurs later in life,” he said.
“So as Australia’s population ages, unless we become a lot more SunSmart, we will see the burden of non-melanoma skin cancers continue to increase when we can least afford it.
“The Commonwealth government should make an ongoing commitment to a national skin cancer awareness campaign in the 2009-10 budget.”
Source : AAP