Epidemiology of Skin Cancer

Skin cancer ---> Skin cancer Statistics

Skin Cancers are the most commonly diagnosed malignant tumors in the United States, with an incidence of approximately 1.4 million new cases annually. One in five Americans born in 2004 will be diagnosed with skin cancer in their lifetime. More than half of all cancers diagnosed in the United States are skin cancers. The most common skin cancer types are basal and squamous cell carcinoma (BCC and SCC). Melanoma accounts for 4% of skin cancer diagnoses but accounts for 75% of skin cancer deaths, with 7,910 deaths due to melanoma in 2004, or about one every hour. Approximately 95,880 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the United States in 2004: 40,780 in situ and 55,100 invasive (29,900 men and 25,200 women). This represents a 4% increase in new cases of melanoma from 2003. The incidence of melanoma has more than tripled among Caucasians between 1980 and 2003. Invasive melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in men, seventh most common cancer in women, and the most common form of cancer of any type in women between 25 and 29 years of age. The early diagnosis and surgical treatment of these skin cancers can be curative.