Skin cancer in Australia

Publication
Release Date: 13 Jul 2016
Author: AIHW
Media release

PDF Report (1.8Mb)

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Skin cancer (melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers) accounts for the largest number of cancers diagnosed in Australia each year. This report provides an overview of skin cancer in Australia, risk factors, and key summary measures, including incidence, hospitalisations, survival and mortality.

ISBN: 978-1-74249-949-9
Cat. no: CAN 96
Pages: 81

Findings from this report:

In 2016, an estimated 13,280 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in Australia.
The age-standardised incidence rate of melanoma has increased, but has dropped for people aged less than 40
In 2014, 40,179 Medicare benefits claims were paid for melanoma and 959,243 for non-melanoma skin cancer
In 2013–14, there were 23,437 melanoma-related hospitalisations in Australia

Preliminary material
- Title and verso pages
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Summary
  - Skin cancer is a major cause of illness in Australia
  - Hospitalisations for skin cancer are on the rise
  - Survival from melanoma is relatively high
  - Melanoma is less common among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
  - There is substantial spending on skin cancer each year
Body section
- 1 Introduction
  - The skin
  - About this report
    - Data availability
    - Estimated incidence and mortality data
- 2 Facts about skin cancer
  - Melanoma of the skin
  - Non-melanoma skin cancer
  - Risk factors for skin cancer
    - Ultraviolet (UV) radiation
    - Family history and genetic susceptibility
- 3 Melanoma
  - Incidence
    - Sex
    - Age group
  - Hospitalisations
    - Number of hospitalisations and hospitalisation rate
    - Treatment of melanoma
    - Hospitalisations involving surgery
    - Chemotherapy
  - Survival
    - Tumour thickness
  - Mortality
    - Sex
    - Age group
- 4 Non-melanoma skin cancer
  - Incidence
    - Basal cell carcinoma
    - Squamous cell carcinoma
    - Rare non-melanoma skin cancers
    - Sex
    - Age group
  - Hospitalisations
    - Number of hospitalisations and hospital rate
    - Treatment of NMSC
    - Number of hospitalisations involving surgery
    - Chemotherapy
  - Mortality
    - Sex
    - Age group
- 5 Focus on key population groups
  - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
    - Incidence
    - Mortality
  - States and territories Incidence Mortality
  - Remoteness area Incidence Mortality
  - Socioeconomic groups
  - Incidence
  - Mortality
6 Medicare subsidised services
- Melanoma
- Medicare subsidised services
- Medicare spending
- Non-melanoma skin cancers
- Medicare subsidised services
- Medicare spending
7 Spotlight on limitations of NMSC data
- Available data sources and their limitations
- Surveys
- Hospitals data
- Medicare data
- Parliamentary inquiry into non-melanoma skin cancer
- Option 1: Include common NMSC as a notifiable cancer in each state and territory, and collect
- complete data through cancer registries
- Option 2: Include common NMSC as a notifiable cancer in selected regions of Australia and
- collect complete data for these regions through cancer registries
- Option 3: Collect information through regular national surveys approximately every 5 years
- Option 4: Investigate the utility of other available data for producing NMSC incidence estimates
- that are fit for purpose
  - Potential data sources
End matter
- Appendixes
  - Appendix A: Tables
  - Appendix B: Defining rare non-melanoma skin cancer
  - Appendix C: Medicare data
    - Medicare subsidised services
    - Medicare item numbers for services and spending
  - Appendix D: Defining hospitalisations for skin cancer
    - Terms and classifications on admitted patient care
    - Definition of melanoma and NMSC-related hospitalisations
      - Definition of melanoma and NMSC-related procedures
  - Appendix E: Statistical methods and technical notes
    - Age-specific rates
    - Age-standardised rates
    - Relative survival
  - Appendix F: Data sources
    - AIHW Australian Cancer Database
    - AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database
    - AIHW National Mortality Database
    - National Death Index
    - Population data
- Glossary
- References
- List of tables
- List of figures
- Related publications

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