Skin
cancer rises in younger people
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Skin cancer victims younger than 40 are almost twice as common today as they were 30 years ago, according to a Mayo Clinic study.
The finding puts scientific fact behind a long-held belief that skin cancer is increasing in the United States.
The study also offers some evidence that skin cancer is more common today and not just the result of increased screening or people living longer.
"We're seeing it in younger and younger people," said Dr. Leslie Christenson, the lead author of the study published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.
Skin cancer experts at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., had noticed high numbers of young patients seeking treatment for nonmelanoma skin cancer, the most common and most treatable form. About 1 million new cases are diagnosed each year.
The researchers checked the Rochester Epidemiology Project, a comprehensive collection of medical records of residents of Olmsted County, Minn. Reviewing records between 1976 and 2003, they found a particularly substantial increase in nonmelanoma among women under 40.
Christenson said the location of the skin cancer tumors was telling. Historically, 80 percent to 90 percent were found above the neck.
But only half of the afflicted women under 40 had tumors above the neck. The rest had tumors on their torso, arms or legs, suggesting sun exposure from excessive outdoor tanning or the use of tanning beds.
Nonmelanoma accounts for 97 percent of skin cancers and usually can be treated by surgical removal of the cancerous tumors. Melanoma, a more severe form of cancer, accounts for the rest.
A Medicare spending analysis released this week suggested that melanoma is being diagnosed among senior citizens at twice the rate of a decade ago.
Christenson said her study was designed to substantiate the increase of nonmelanoma cancer among people under 40, not to determine its cause. But she said she did find evidence that suggests the increase results from more than more stringent early screening.
The size of tumors found in patients averaged the same today as 30 years ago. If early screening accounted for additional nonmelanoma cases, Christenson said, then the tumors would be expected to be substantially smaller.
The Mayo study listed ozone depletion and increased exposure to ultraviolet light as the most likely causes for the increase in cases among people younger than 40.
Prevention includes limiting exposure to the midday sun and using sunscreen appropriately.
