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One in 24 males and one in 33 females will develop melanoma of skin by the age of 75.
Every year over 9500 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed in Australia and more than 1200 people die. In 2003, melanoma of the skin was the most common cancer in men aged 15 to 19 and 25 to 54 and women aged 15 to 34. It was the second most common in women 35 to 54 years.
Melanoma of the skin ranked third in incidence and ninth in mortality (death rates) for males. It ranks third in females for incidence and eleventh in mortality.
In 2004, there were 30,092 new cases of cancer in NSW. Of these 3402 people were diagnosed with melanoma of skin — 1951 males and 1451 females. Of the 388 deaths from melanoma of the skin, 281 were men and 107 were women.
Men are 1.5 times more likely to develop melanoma of the skin than women and 3.3 times more likely to die from it.
For further information and advice, call the Cancer Helpline on 13 11 20.
