Skin cancer deaths among men have soared in wealthy nations since 1985, with mortality rates among women rising more slowly or even declining, researchers have told a medical conference in Glasgow.
Men are being urged to cover up in the sun as male death rates for melanoma skin cancer outpace those for women.
A study shows that the death rate among British men has increased by 74 per cent since the mid-1980s but for women it went up by only 9 per cent.
Previous research suggests that men are more reluctant to act on advice to avoid overexposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and are less likely to report potentially cancerous moles.
Reasons for the discrepancy between sexes are unclear but evidence suggests men are “less likely to protect themselves from the sun” or heed public health warnings, lead researcher Dorothy Yang, a doctor at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in London, told AFP.
In eight of 18 countries examined, men’s skin cancer death rates had increased in the past 30 years by at least 50%.
In Australia, nearly six out of every 100,000 men succumbed to the disease in 2013-15. That is twice the second highest death rate (Finland), but only a 10% increase compared to 30 years earlier.
“Australia has been an early implementer of public health media campaigns since the 1970s to promote ‘sun-smart’ behaviour,” Yang said before presenting her data at the 2018 UK National Cancer Research Institute Conference in Glasgow on Sunday.
While debate continues as to how much of Australia’s record skin cancer rate stems from depletion of UV-filtering ozone in the stratosphere, 30 years of public health campaigns have no doubt made Australians acutely aware of the dangers.
More than 90 percent of melanoma cancers are caused by skin cell damage from exposure to the sun or other sources of ultraviolet (UV) radiation such as tanning beds, according to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
