In new data that won’t surprise many WA GPs, a staggering three-quarters of Australian men will have at least one skin cancer removed in their lifetime.
Research by Sydney’s Sax Institute has found that 69% of Australians — 73% of men and 65% of women — will have at least one excision for a histologically confirmed keratinocyte cancer.
Western Australia and Queensland are routinely considered the country’s skin cancer capitals, with recent figures from the WA Health Department revealing that 310 people sought treatment for severe sunburn at hospital emergency departments last year, and 165 were male.
The Sax Institute study found that rates of skin cancer treatment have been increasing by up to 6% a year over the past three decades.
Its paper is published in Public Health Research & Practice, a peer-reviewed journal of the institute.
The researchers, led by Associate Professor Catherine Olsen of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, calculated the lifetime risk of keratinocyte cancer and trends in treatment rates in Australia, using the latest available data.
Keratinocyte cancers, also known as non-melanoma skin cancers, are the most common cancers in Australia. BCCs grow slowly in the lower levels of the skin’s epidermis and make up at least two-thirds of all skin cancer.
About one-third of skin cancers are SCCs, which grow rapidly in the upper layer of the epidermis. If left untreated these cancers can damage nerves and nearby tissue and, in the case of SCCs, spread to other parts of the body with potentially lethal consequences.
More than 500 Australians die from SCCs every year.
The paper’s authors found that not only is the incidence of keratinocyte cancer in Australia very high, it has been increasing over the past three decades, at a rate of between 2 and 6% per year, mostly affecting older age groups.
“This high and increasing burden of skin cancer emphasises the need for continued investment in skin cancer education and prevention,” they said.
The researchers said that unlike melanomas, data on keratinocyte cancers was not recorded in State and territory cancer registries, except in Tasmania. They called for cancer registries to work towards routine reporting of all keratinocyte cancers in Australia to monitor trends.