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The study predicts a 40 per cent jump in the cost of treating skin cancer over the next five years. (Flickr: John Wardell (Netinho))
The cost of treating skin cancer is set to rise by more than $700 million over the next five years as the Australian population ages.
A study by Epworth and St Vincent?s Hospital in Melbourne has predicted a 40 per cent jump in costs, fuelled by baby boomers who were not told of the dangers when they were young.
Epworth Hospital director of dermatology Professor Rod Sinclair says he expects skin cancer costs will keep going up for the next two decades.
?What we are seeing is the result of a lifetime of sun exposure, and in particular the rises we?re seeing are in the people who are aged 70 and 80 who got their sun exposure before the sunsmart and slip, slop, slap campaigns began,? he said.
?I think the numbers of skin cancers are going to continue to increase at least for the next 15, 20 years.
?When the people who today are 65 start moving into their 80s, that?s when hopefully we?ll start to see the decline in the actual numbers of skin cancers treated.?
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Skin cancer costs to rise for next 20 years
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Professor Sinclair says skin cancer is so common in Australia it accounts for seven out of every eight cancers diagnosed.
Fortunately, he says, many are caught in time.
?The mortality, or the risk of death is quite low. In fact the mortality rate is about 1 in 10,000,? he said.
?These tumours are locally aggressive, they?re locally invasive, they cause health problems, they need surgery to be removed because you can?t leave them alone.
?But fortunately they?re not killing people in large numbers.?
Professor Sinclair says about 70 per cent of skin cancers are cut out, while the rest receive other forms of treatment.
?We have treatments such as creams that can be used to treat skin cancers, there?s photodynamic therapy, which is a form of light therapy, to treat skin cancers,? he said.
?There?s a whole range of non-surgical techniques that can be used for the simple skin cancers that are caught early.?
Professor Sinclair says the problem is that most skin cancers have already advanced beyond the point of non-surgical treatments by the time they are detected.
?What we know is that if you leave them even longer, the complexity of the surgery increases and they start requiring skin grafts and complicated closures,? he said.
?So what happens is if you leave a skin cancer, a little problem will gradually turn into a big problem.?
However, the two-year research project being published in the Medical Journal of Australia today has found some good news.
It has found the slip, slop, slap campaign has worked, reducing for the first time the incidence of skin cancers in those aged under 55.
Topics:
skin-cancer,
diseases-and-disorders,
health,
medical-research,
australia,
melbourne-3000
First posted
Article source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-19/costs-of-skin-cancer-set-to-rise-to-700-million/4378728
Source: http://cancerkick.com/2012/11/18/skin-cancer-costs-set-to-jump/
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