Pages

Friday 17 December 2010

Pensioners spot skin cancer symptoms too late

reposted from: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/news/archive/pressrelease/pensioners-spot-skin-cancer-symptoms-too-late?rss=true

crabsallover highlights

Monday 29 November 2010

Cancer Research UK Press Release

Failure to get moles and skin changes checked out by a doctor has contributed to a steep rise in deaths from malignant melanoma among pensioners, experts warned today (Tuesday).
The mortality rate in over 65s dying from the most dangerous kind of skin cancer has almost tripled in the last 30 years according to Cancer Research UK.
Figures from the East of England Cancer Registry (ECRIC*) showed that the over 65s were more likely to be diagnosed with melanoma at a late stage compared with younger people.
The later skin cancer is detected, the more likely it is to spread and the harder it becomes to treat.
Caroline Cerny, Cancer Research UK's SunSmart campaign manager, said: "While the risk of skin cancer increases with age, the fact that so many over 65s are being diagnosed when the disease is advanced means that older people need to keep a close eye on any changes to their skin or moles to avoid late diagnosis. The earlier the cancer is diagnosed the easier it will be to treat.
"People should be aware of the basic warning signs for malignant melanoma. If a mole is as big as a pencil-top eraser, bleeds, is sore or itchy, uneven in colour or has jagged edges then people should visit their GP without delay."
Cancer Research UK found that there was a steeper increase in the number of cases of malignant melanoma in the over 65s compared to younger people which also contributed to the threefold increase in deaths.
Data from ECRIC showed that for every year since 1997, significantly more people aged 65 and over have been diagnosed with malignant melanoma at a late stage than those under 65.
In recent years, around seven per cent of 15-64 year olds were diagnosed with late stage malignant melanoma compared with around 20 per cent of people over 65.
Dr Jem Rashbass, director of ECRIC, said: "We know that late diagnosis is a problem in this country and this is likely to be a combination of a number of factors. An important part of the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI)** is to ensure we develop the evidence both to help us understand the key reasons for delays and find the right approaches to improve earlier diagnosis."
Although there have been some improvements in the number of over 65 year olds being diagnosed with melanoma at a late stage***, the figures suggest that more needs to be done to raise awareness about skin cancer among this generally retired population.
Cancer Research UK figures showed that the rate of people aged 65 and over dying from melanoma in the UK rose from four deaths per 100,000 people in 1979 to 11.4 deaths per 100,000 people in 2008.
In contrast, the death rate for people aged 15-64 has remained stable over the same period at around 2 deaths per 100,000 people.
The five-fold increase over the last 30 years in the number of malignant melanoma cases among the over 65s showed that people need to be careful in the sun now to protect their skin against the disease in years to come.
Sara Hiom, director of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: "It can take decades for skin cancer to develop so to avoid developing the disease in the future, it is vitally important for young people to be aware that not protecting their skin from sunburn while they are young can increase the risk of melanoma later in life.
"Melanoma is a largely preventable disease; people can reduce their chance of getting skin cancer in the first place if they protect their skin from sunburn. Summer may be over, but the damage to skin cells shown by sunburn can remain long after the redness fades."
ENDS
For media enquiries please contact Angela Balakrishnan on 020 3469 8311 or, out-of-hours, the duty press officer on 07050 264 059.

Notes to editors

*Eastern Cancer Registry and Information Centre (ECRIC) is the regional cancer registry covering the east of England government office region. At present good quality national staging data are unavailable; and so regional data from ECRIC has been used. www.ecric.org.uk
The age-standardised incidence rate of malignant melanoma over the last 30 years in people aged 65 and over in Great Britain has increased from 8.5 per 100,000 people in 1978 to 45.3 per 100,000 people in 2007.
In contrast, the age-standardised incidence rate in people aged 15-64 over the same period has risen from 4 per 100,000 people to 14 per 100,000 people.
**NAEDI is a public sector/third sector partnership between the Department of Health, National Cancer Action Team, and Cancer Research UK formed in 2007.
***Stages for malignant melanoma were broken down as: early – stages 1 or 2 and late – stages 3 or 4, based on tumour size, whether the cancer had spread to nearby nodes or whether it had spread more widely around the body.
Since 1990 there has been a one per cent decrease each year in the number of over 65s being diagnosed with malignant melanoma at a late stage.http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/skin/incidence/
For more information about Cancer Research UK's SunSmart campaign visit www.sunsmart.org.uk

No comments: