SYDNEY: More than two out of three Australians will need skin cancer treatment during their lifetime as rates of the disease rise steadily, according to a report released on Thursday.
The findings, published by the Sax Institute’s Public Health Research & Practice journal, are based on statistics gathered on basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) and the less common squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), both of which are collectively known as keratinocyte cancers or non-melanoma cancers (NMCs).
The science team behind the report calculated that about 73 percent of the nation’s men and 65 percent of the women will eventually have at least one NMC removed.
The report noted that NMC cases had increased over the past three decades at an annual rate of 2 to 6 percent and warned the numbers could even be higher because the data was not uniformly recorded throughout Australia, which needs to be rectified by health authorities.
.jpg)
