Skin cancer

 

Cancer Cases

Cancer incidence rate refers to the number of new cancers cases occurring in a specified population during a given year, expressed as the number of cancer cases per 100,000 population.1 

In 2018, the UK ranked 10th amongst the 31 European countries studied for the incidence of skin cancer, with 27 people in every 100,000 being diagnosed with the condition (ranging from 6 cases per 100,000 people in Romania to 50 in 100,000 people in Norway).

The UK's incidence rate for this cancer type was higher than the European average of 24 cases per 100,000 people.

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Note:

  • For this cancer type there is no information available on incidence at a country level for 1995

Reference for text:

1. National Cancer Institute. Cancer Incidence Rates. 

References for graphs:

Cancer Deaths

Cancer mortality rate refers to the number of deaths caused by cancer occurring in a specified population during a given year, expressed as the number of cancer deaths per 100,000 population.2

In 2018, the UK ranked 13th amongst the 31 European countries studied for the mortality of skin cancer, with 4 in every 100,000 people dying from the condition (ranging from 2 deaths per 100,000 in Romania to 7 in 100,000 in Norway).

The UK's mortality rate for this cancer type was similar to the European average.

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Note:

  • For this cancer type there is no information available on mortality at a country level for 1995

Reference for text:

2. National Cancer Institute. Cancer Mortality Rates.

References for graphs:

Cancer Survival

Survival refers to the percentage of people that were diagnosed with cancer in a given year and who are still alive after a certain period of time (here defined as 5 years or more after being diagnosed).3

Between 2010 and 2014, the UK ranked 7th amongst the 28 European countries studied for the 5 year survival post-diagnosis of skin cancer, with 91% of people surviving 5 years or more after being diagnosed with this cancer type (ranging from 61% survival in Bulgaria to 94% in Switzerland). 

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Notes:

  • There is no European average for 5-year survival because data for Greece, Hungary and Luxembourg is lacking
  • There is no country level data for this cancer type between 1995 and 1999
  • The latest data collected by IHE was for the 2010-2014 5-year period

Reference for text:

3. Hofmarcher, T et al. (2019) Comparator Report on Cancer in Europe 2019 - Disease Burden, Costs and Access to Medicines. IHE Report 2019:7. IHE: Lund, Sweden

References for graphs:

Uptake of Cancer Medicines

The uptake of skin cancer medicines was analysed as sales in standard weekly doses (SWD) per cancer case in individual countries and is displayed in the below graph cumulatively.3

In 2018, the UK's cumulative uptake of skin cancer medicines analysed ranked 14th amongst the 26 European countries studied.

The UK's cumulative uptake for skin cancer medicines was the lowest amongst the other EU5 countries – Italy, Germany, France and Spain.

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Notes:

  • The skin cancer medicines analysed by IHE were cobimetinib, dabrafenib, ipilimumab, trametinib and vemurafenib
  • IHE selected a range of medicines launched between 2005-2015 that were identified by oncologists to represent accepted standard treatments and had high volumes of use across European countries. This selection process led to the variation in the number of individual medicines selected for each tumour type. Data was then collected from each country to highlight variation in volumes used as presented in these charts

Reference for graphs and text:

Last modified: 20 September 2023

Last reviewed: 20 September 2023