Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers to Reach Epidemic Proportions

The steady rise in the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer sets the stage for an epidemic, as sunbathers of the Baby Boomer demographic, age. Howard W. Rogers, a dermatologist in Connecticut (USA), and colleagues, analyzed data from two Medicare databases and national surveys. The team found the total number of procedures to treat skin cancer in the Medicare population increased by nearly 77% between 1992 and 2006, with a 16% rise in the years 2002 to 2006 alone.  Writing that: “[W]e provide evidence of much higher overall totals of skin cancer diagnoses and patients in the US population than previous estimates,” the researchers warn that: “These data give the most complete evaluation to date of the underrecognized epidemic of skin cancer in the United States.”