• Online Features  This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (46)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Oncology  • Skin Cancer  • Dermatology  • Dermatologic Disorders  • Public Health  • Public Health, Other  • Statistics and Research Methods  • Neoplasms  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Howard W. Rogers, MD, PhD; Martin A. Weinstock, MD, PhD; Ashlynne R. Harris; Michael R. Hinckley, MD; Steven R. Feldman, MD; Alan B. Fleischer, MD; Brett M. Coldiron, MD

Arch Dermatol. 2010;146(3):283-287.

Objectives  To estimate the incidence of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) in the US population in 2006 and secondarily to indicate trends in numbers of procedures for skin cancer treatment.

Design  A descriptive analysis of population-based claims and US Census Bureau data combined with a population-based cross-sectional survey using multiple US government data sets, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Fee-for-Service Physicians Claims databases, to calculate totals of skin cancer procedures performed for Medicare beneficiaries in 1992 and from 1996 to 2006 and related parameters. The National Ambulatory Medical Care Service database was used to estimate NMSC-related office visits. We combined these to estimate totals of new skin cancer diagnoses and affected individuals in the overall US population.

Results  The total number of procedures for skin cancer in the Medicare fee-for-service population increased by 76.9% from 1 158 298 in 1992 to 2 048 517 in 2006. The age-adjusted procedure rate per year per 100 000 beneficiaries increased from 3514 in 1992 to 6075 in 2006. From 2002 to 2006 (the years for which the databases allow procedure linkage to patient demographics and diagnoses), the number of procedures for NMSC in the Medicare population increased by 16.0%. In this period, the number of procedures per affected patient increased by 1.5%, and the number of persons with at least 1 procedure increased by 14.3%. We estimate the total number of NMSCs in the US population in 2006 at 3 507 693 and the total number of persons in the United States treated for NMSC at 2 152 500.

Conclusions  The number of skin cancers in Medicare beneficiaries increased dramatically over the years 1992 to 2006, due mainly to an increase in the number of affected individuals. Using nationally representative databases, we provide evidence of much higher overall totals of skin cancer diagnoses and patients in the US population than previous estimates. These data give the most complete evaluation to date of the underrecognized epidemic of skin cancer in the United States.

Author Affiliations: Advanced Dermatology, Norwich, Connecticut (Dr Rogers); Departments of Dermatology and Community Health, Brown Medical School, Providence, Rhode Island (Dr Weinstock); Alpert Medical School at Brown University, Providence (Ms Harris); Department of Dermatology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina (Drs Hinckley, Feldman, and Fleischer); and Department of Dermatology, University of Cincinnati Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio (Dr Coldiron).

CiteULike    Connotea    Delicious    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Correlation of Global MicroRNA Expression With Basal Cell Carcinoma Subtype
Heffelfinger et al.
G3 2012;2:279-286.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Menopausal Hormone Therapy and Risks of Melanoma and Nonmelanoma Skin Cancers: Women's Health Initiative Randomized Trials
Tang et al.
JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst 2011;103:1469-1475.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Caffeine Decreases Phospho-Chk1 (Ser317) and Increases Mitotic Cells with Cyclin B1 and Caspase 3 in Tumors from UVB-Treated Mice
Lu et al.
Cancer Prev Res 2011;4:1118-1125.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

New Insights About Infant and Toddler Skin: Implications for Sun Protection
Paller et al.
Pediatrics 2011;128:92-102.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Cancer and neurologic degeneration in xeroderma pigmentosum: long term follow-up characterises the role of DNA repair
Bradford et al.
J. Med. Genet. 2011;48:168-176.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Chemoprevention of Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer With Celecoxib: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial
Elmets et al.
JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst 2010;102:1835-1844.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer and the Risk of Second Primary Cancers: a Systematic Review
Wheless et al.
Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 2010;19:1686-1695.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT