A new study has found that young people who have survived non-melanoma skin cancer are at high risk of developing other types of cancers in later stage of their lives.
The researchers used the All England Record-linked Hospital and Mortality data collected between the period 1999 and 2011.
For the study, 502,490 patients of nonmelanoma skin cancer were involved. These patients were then compared to 8,787,513 people in a control group. Non-melanoma skin cancer is the most common form of skin cancer.
Study author Dr. Rodney Sinclair, a professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne in Australia, said, “Early detection of cancers through screening of asymptomatic people works best when screening can be targeted at those at greatest risk. Our study identifies people who receive a diagnosis of NMSC at a young age as being at increased risk for cancer and, therefore, as a group who could benefit from screening for internal malignancy.”
Findings of the study
According to the researchers, the survivors of nonmelanoma skin cancer were found at an increased risk of developing cancers related to bladder, brain, breast, colon, liver, lung, pancreas, prostate and stomach cancers throughout the entire study period.
- Nonmelanoma skin cancer patients who developed the disease before age 25 were at high risk of developing other kinds of cancers compared to the control group.
- Young people with skin cancer were 53 times more likely to get bone cancer compared to the control group
- They were 26 times more likely to get blood cancers compared to the control group
- They were 20 times more likely to get brain cancer compared to the control group
- They were 14 times more likely to get any form of non-skin cancer compared to the control group.
As nonmelanoma skin cancer survivors got older, their risk for developing other forms of cancer decreased. Researchers said young people who have been diagnosed with nonmelanoma skin cancer should be screened for other cancers more carefully.
The study was published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
