Mortality in Danish patients with nonmelanoma skin cancer, 19782001

Abstract

Summary Background Nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) is a growing public health problem among Caucasians, thus mortality data that may provide insight into the clinical course and foster our understanding of NMSC are important. Objectives We examined total and cause-specific mortality among patients with NMSC registered in the Danish Cancer Registry from 1978 to 2001. Methods A total of 82 837 patients with basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and 13 453 patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) were followed through the National Death Registry for specific causes of death. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were computed based on mortality rates in the general population. Results Among patients with BCC, we found a slightly reduced total mortality [SMR 0·97, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0·96–0·98] with decreased SMRs seen for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes mellitus. The SMR for suicide was increased. Among patients with SCC, we found an increased total mortality (SMR 1·30, 95% CI 1·26–1·33) due primarily to excess deaths from cancers, COPD, CVD and infectious diseases. Conclusions We found markedly different mortality patterns among patients with BCC and those with SCC, suggesting important differences in the clinical course of these patients.

Prior history of non-melanoma skin cancer is associated with increased mortality in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

“…Improving our understanding of CLL and its related precursor states will ultimately lead to early CLL diagnosis and treatment, and identification of novel molecular targets. 2,28,29 Additional studies should evaluate individual risk factors for CLL prognosis by incorporating more clinical data regarding treatment and immune parameters. The possibility that subclinical CLL may be present at the time of NMSC diagnosis should be addressed, as we observed a trend for decreased survival with shorter latency between NMSC diagnosis and CLL diagnosis.…”

Trends in Basal Cell Carcinoma Incidence Rates: A 37-Year Dutch Observational Study

“…Mortality rates associated with BCC are low (o0.1%), but localized tissue invasion may induce considerable functional and cosmetic morbidity, especially because the majority of the lesions are located on the face (Hannuksela-Svahn et al, 1999;Lewis and Weinstock, 2007;Jensen et al, 2008). Only few cancer registries record BCC, and in most cases only the first histologically confirmed BCC per patient is included (Bath-Hextall et al, 2007;BirchJohansen et al, 2010;Flohil et al, 2011a).…”

Nonmelanoma skin cancer and risk of all-cause and cancer-related mortality: a systematic review

“…An additional 6 studies that met the inclusion criteria were ascertained via hand-searches of related articles, for a total of 12 articles eligible for inclusion in the systematic review. However, the evidence was complicated by the fact that of the seven published reports that included evidence for the association between NMSC and all-cause mortality, five were from Denmark and had a considerable degree of overlapping data [5, 14–17]. In these Danish studies by Jensen and colleagues and by Brøndum-Jacobsen et al, the NMSC patient populations were derived from either the Gerda Frentz Cohort (GFC), a Danish cohort of prospectively recorded patients with NMSC seen by dermatologists in 1995, or the Danish Cancer Registry (DCR) between the years of 1978 to 2006, as shown in Table 1.…”

“…An association between NMSC and increased risk of other malignancies has been well documented [1, 30, 37]. A smaller but growing body of evidence raises the possibility that NMSC may also be associated with increased mortality [4,12, 14–19, 24, 26, 34]. The variable methods and findings of existing studies make it difficult to discern the consistency and strength of the association between NMSC and mortality, necessary first steps for assessing whether the association is genuine or rather is artifactual.…”