THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF SKIN CANCER AT THE NATIONAL HOSPITAL OF DERMATOLOGY AND VENEREOLOGY FROM 2017 - 2021

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the current situation of skin cancer in the National Hospital of Dermatology and Venereology (NHDV) with an emphasis on epidemiology and time trends over 5-year period from 2017 to 2021.Subjects and methods: We analyzed medical data of all patients with definitive diagnosis of skin cancer who were hospitalized at the NHDV between January 2017 and December 2021. Results: A total of 866 patients were identified. There were 579 (66.86%) cases of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), 238 (27.48%) cases of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 22 (2.54%) cases of melanoma, and other types of skin cancer occurred in 3.12% (27 cases) of patients. The age group over 60 years old accounted for 60.28% of patients. The mean age of patients with BCC gradually decreased from 65.01 in 2017 to 61.64 in 2021 and the proportion of patients under 60 years old increased statistically significantly over the years (p < 0.01). The male/female ratio was 0.97 (p = 0.715) and 71.02% of the patients lived in rural areas.Conclusion: BCC is the most common type of skin cancer. About 60% of skin cancer patients were diagnosed at age ≥ 60 but tend to be younger. Men and women have similar incidence of skin cancer and the majority of patients live in rural areas.