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.

Received: 12/04/2022
Revised: 21/05/2022
Accepted:  28/05/2022