Cancer Research Lab

The death rate from genital non-melanoma skin cancer is three times higher for women than for men. Investigators who conducted a large, population-based study attribute the higher death rate largely to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.

Co-investigator Dr. Martin A. Weinstock of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, presented the study findings here Sunday at the 65th annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Nearly 75,000 deaths between 1969 and 2000 are attributed to non-melanoma skin cancers, according to the US National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention databases, Dr. Weinstock announced.

Thirty thousand of those are attributed to genital non-melanoma skin cancers, of which 22,000 occurred in women and 8,000 occurred in men.

The incidence of fatal genital non-melanoma skin cancer increases with age. For women younger than 65 years old, there are 0.8 deaths per 100,000; women between 65 and 74 years of age have a mortality of 1.8 deaths per 100,000; for those between 75 and 84 years, the mortality is 4.1 deaths per 100,000 women; and for those 85 years of age or older, the mortality increases to 8.8 deaths per 100,000 women.

In contrast, in men younger than 65 years of age, there are 0.50 deaths per 100,000 from genital non-melanoma skin cancer. That number jumps to 1.0 deaths per 100,000 during the next decade of life, rising to 1.9 deaths per 100,000 between 75 and 84. For those older than 85, the mortality from genital non-melanoma skin cancer is 4.1 deaths per 100,000.

These are skin cancers that are not caused by sun damage, Dr. Weinstock pointed out. He added that while the incidence is increasing among older individuals, it has been decreasing overall in recent years.

“There has been a 47% decline among blacks and a 30% decline among whites,” he told meeting attendees. “The decline among blacks has been quite precipitous in recent years.”

The number of deaths attributed to genital non-melanoma skin cancer was higher than Dr. Weinstock’s team expected, and he believes HPV was the major cause of those cancers. Other causes he cited included smoking, chronic inflammatory conditions, immunosuppression, lower socioeconomic status, obesity and the lack of an early circumcision for men.

The HPV vaccine “offers the potential for a substantial reduction in the development of these cancers,” the Brown University researcher noted. “Prevention and early detection are the key” for continuing the downward trend.