Survey of skin cancer incidence in the Hamilton area

In the Waikato, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty and Taumarunui area there were 2878 new cases of skin cancers over a two-year period; 1632 were basal cell carcinomas, 880 squamous cell carcinomas, 134 had both lesions, 71 had suspect keratoses, and there were 161 melanomas. A single lesion was present in 81 percent. The age-specific risk for non-melanoma skin cancer rose to a peak at ages 75 and over. The average age for melanoma was 50.1 years in males and 46.5 in females, and for non-melanoma skin cancer the peak was in the 60s. The sex ratio for non-melanoma cancer was 1.6 male: 1 female, and for melanoma was 1 male: 1.6 female. No melanoma occurred in Maoris or Pacific islanders. There were nine non-melanoma skin cancers in Maoris. For Europeans the non-melanoma incidence was 384/100 000, the melanoma rate was 23/100 000, and the total lesion rate was 517/100 000 population.