Total skin cancer cost ballooning

QUEENSLANDERS are being urged to become sun smart not only for their own health, but for the financial health of the nation, with new research showing the cost of our most deadly skin cancer has skyrocketed.

QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute research released yesterday, shows the cost of treating and diagnosing melanoma increased by 570 per cent from $30 million in 2001 to $201 million this year.

QIMR Berghofer health economist Louisa Gordon said Australia’s ageing population and the rise in use of expensive but effective immunotherapies were behind the rise.

She urged Queenslanders not to become complacent about sun safety, saying melanoma was a largely preventable disease through sunsmart practices.

The research showed the number of Australians diagnosed with melanoma grew from about 8885 in 2001 to 13,000 this year, with Australia and New Zealand spending more than anywhere else in the world on this disease.

Associate Professor Gordon said she expected melanoma diagnosis rates to increase over the coming years as the older generations who would not have used sunscreens when they were younger entered the healthcare system.