In Australia, every year:
- skin cancers account for 80% of all newly diagnosed cancers.
- two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the time they are 70.
- GPs in Australia have over 1 million patient consultations per year for skin cancer.
- around 434,000 people are treated for one or more non-melanoma skin cancers, with 450 people dying each year.
- more than 10,300 people are treated for melanoma, with 1250 people dying each year.
- melanoma is the most common cancer in people aged 15-44 years.
- excluding non-melanoma skin cancer (1), melanoma is the fourth most common cancer in both women and men.
- Australia has one of the highest incidences of skin cancer in the world, at nearly four times the rates in Canada, the US and the UK.
- the rate of melanoma incidence in women has risen by an average of 0.7% a year between 1993 and 2003 – a total increase of 6.8% over this decade. For men, the rate has risen by 1.7% a year, a total of 18.7% over the same period.
- the five-year relative survival rate for melanoma is 90% for Australian men and 95% for Australian women.
- skin cancer is the most expensive cancer. In 2001, it was estimated the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer cost $264 million and melanoma $30 million.
- GP consultations to treat non-melanoma skin cancer increased by 14% between 1998-2000 and 2005-2007 – from around 836,500 to 950,000 visits each year.
(1) Non-melanoma skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer according to general practice and hospitals data, however there is no reporting of cases to cancer registries.
References*
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australasian Association of Cancer Registries, Cancer in Australia, an overview 2008, Canberra, 2008.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Non-melanoma skin cancer: general practice consultations, hospitalisation and mortality. Canberra, 2008.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australasian Association of Cancer Registries, Australian cancer incidence and mortality workbooks. Canberra, 2008.
Staples M, Elwood M, Burton R, Williams J, Marks R, Giles G. Non-melanoma skin cancer in Australia: the 2002 national survey and trends since 1985. Medical Journal of Australia 2006;184 (1): 6-10.
Dobbinson S, Jamsen KM, Francis K, Dunlop S, Wakefield MA. 2006–07 National Sun Protection Survey Report 1. Skin cancer prevention knowledge, attitudes and beliefs among Australians in summer 2006-07 and comparison with 2003–04 in the context of the first national mass media campaign. Melbourne: Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer, The Cancer Council Victoria, December 2007 unpublished.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare & Cancer Australia & Australasian Association of Cancer Registries. Cancer survival and prevalence in Australia: cancers diagnosed from 1982 to 2004. Canberra, 2008.
National Cancer Control Initiative, The 2002 National Non-melanoma Skin Cancer Survey, Melbourne, 2003.