S K I N C A N C E R F O U N D A T I O N J O U R N A L
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or decades now, The Skin
Cancer Foundation and
other health educators have de-
voted themselves to informing the
public about the world's most common
cancer. Yet more than 3.5 million
cases are now diagnosed annually in
the US,
1
and the fgures are still rising.
We know what causes skin cancer
in most people, and we know how
to prevent it. So why does this epidemic
keep growing?
The
Skin Cancer
Enigma
We know how to prevent it, yet
incidence keeps rising. What's wrong
with this picture?
Heather Rogers, MD
Health
everal factors play a big part, including our aging
population, tanning beds, the past inadequacies of
sunscreen, and the difculties in changing well-
entrenched behaviors and beliefs. Also, paradoxically,
our increasing public awareness of skin cancer has itself con-
tributed to the rising incidence.
The Nation's Aging Skin
I
n the US, people age 65 and over have the greatest inci-
dence of skin cancer; 40-50 percent of them develop at
least one skin cancer in their lifetime.
2
And there are many
more people 65 or over than there used to be. In 1950, they
composed only 8.5 percent of the US population, but by
2012 this was up to 13.7 percent.
3
Today there are 40 mil-
lion people in the US 65 and older.
People are living longer, more active lives, increasing
their lifetime sun exposure, and more sun exposure brings
a higher cumulative risk for skin cancer; about 90 percent
of nonmelanoma skin cancers
4
and 86 percent of melanomas
5
are associated with exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation
from the sun. The number of nonmelanoma skin cancers in
S