By IANS,
Sydney : People aged 70 and above, especially men, account for 70 percent deaths from skin cancer with most primary cases occurring in areas of high exposure to sun, according to a study.
The findings have prompted health experts to urge older people to stay vigilant about sun protection and get regular skin checks.
Terry Slevin of Cancer Council WA and co-author of the study said results should act as a strong reminder for older men to check their skin and see their doctor at the first sign of anything suspicious.
“Older people may have become blasé about non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) because for the most part they can just be cut out, but as this research shows, NMSC is serious and can be deadly if left untreated,” he said.
“The message these findings send us is that it’s never too late to prevent skin cancer and regular skin checks are important to catch skin cancers early, before they become a problem.”
Each year in Western Australia, it’s estimated that around 30,000 non-melanoma skin cancers are removed and there are 37 deaths from these types of cancers.
Co-author of the paper, Lin Fritschi, said the research was the first definitive evidence that these deaths were primarily caused by cancer resulting from excessive sun exposure.
“The average age of death caused by NMSC was about 77 years old, and most primary cancers appeared in areas of high sun exposure – for men, the scalp was the primary cancer site in a quarter of these deadly cancer cases,” she said.
“In light of these findings, skin cancer examinations really need to become a high priority for older people as well as their GPs, nurses and care-givers.”
These findings have been published in Cancer Causes Control.