Men and women develop skin cancer in different parts of the body
Areas of the body most likely to develop skin
cancer
vary between men and women, research has found, as cases of melanoma are expected to rise this year.
According to analysis by Cancer Research UK (CRUK), four in 10 melanomas in men are found on the torso, including the back, chest and stomach, the equivalent of 3,700 cases a year.
More than a third – 35 per cent – of melanomas in women are found on lower limbs, from the hips to the feet, and account for 3,200 cases every year.
It is thought the variations are due to differences in behaviour, with men more likely to be in the sun without a shirt while women might wear shorts or skirts as the weather gets warmer.
READ MORE
The study found that 87 per cent of melanoma cases, the equivalent of 17,100 in the
UK
each year, are caused by overexposure to UV radiation.
Last year, rates of melanoma skin cancer reached an all-time high in the UK, with new diagnoses increasing by a quarter from 21 to 28 in every 100,000 people between 2007 and 2009 and 2017 and 2019, according to CRUK figures.
There has been a 57 per cent rise among the over-80s and a 7 per cent rise in those aged 25 to 49. The charity has also warned that melanoma cases are expected to rise again this year, with 21,300 cases.
Michelle Mitchell, CRUK chief executive, said: 'Improvements in skin cancer survival rates highlight the remarkable progress driven by our research. But the growing number of people diagnosed with melanoma is still concerning, especially when we can see that rates are rising faster in men.
'If you notice anything different on your skin, like a new mole, a mole that's changed in size, shape or colour, or any patch of skin that looks out of the ordinary – don't ignore it, speak to your GP. We want to beat skin cancer for everyone, no matter who they are or where they're from – early diagnosis is key and could make all the difference.'
[
Sunbeds, melanoma and me: 'I knew the risks but thought it could never happen'
Opens in new window
]
Fiona Osgun, head of health information at CRUK, said: 'As the weather gets warmer, it's really important to look after yourself in the sun. Getting sunburned just once every couple of years can triple your risk of melanoma skin cancer, compared with never being burned. And it's not just the hot, sunny days you need to watch out for – UV rays can be strong enough to cause skin damage between mid-March and mid-October in the UK, even when it's cloudy or cool.
[
Nine in 10 with melanoma skin cancer survive at least five years
Opens in new window
]
'That's why we encourage people to take some simple steps to stay safe. Try to stick to the shade between 11am and 3pm when the sun is strongest, wear clothes that help cover up your skin, with a hat and sunglasses, and use a sunscreen with at least SPF30 and 4 or 5 stars.'
Professor Peter Johnson, the national clinical director for cancer at
NHS
England, said: 'Prevention is by far the best plan with skin cancer, so avoid the sun when it is at its hottest and ensure you use sunscreen. For skin cancer, as for any cancer, it is vital that you are seen and diagnosed as early as possible, so people should come forward if they are concerned about symptoms. Getting checked saves lives.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
4 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
More Brits developing cancer than ever before but survival rates have doubled since 70s
MORE Brits are developing cancer than ever before but we are twice as likely to survive the disease than patients in the 1970s, a report shows. Cancer Research UK studied 50 years of data and found tumour rates increased by nearly half – 48 per cent – between 1973 and 2023. Advertisement 1 More Brits are developing cancer than ever before but we are twice as likely to survive the disease than patients in the 1970s Credit: Getty There are now 607 cases per 100,000 people per year, compared to 413 per 100,000 then. Cancer has become more common as people live longer and the risk rises with age, but cases are now increasing fastest in younger people. Scientists are investigating whether unhealthy lifestyles now are driving up the disease further. Meanwhile, treatment advances mean cancer is less deadly than ever, with the death rate tumbling from 328 per 100,000 to 252. Advertisement The proportion of people who survive 10 years or more after diagnosis has doubled from 24 to 50 per cent. Michelle Mitchell, chief of Cancer Research UK, said: 'It's fantastic to see that thanks to research, cancer death rates have drastically reduced over the last 50 years, and survival has doubled. 'However, there is more that can be done. 'This report highlights that over 460 people die from cancer every day in the UK, and too many cases are diagnosed at a late stage. Advertisement Most read in Health Exclusive Exclusive 'If we want to change that, we need bold action from the UK government and the upcoming National Cancer Plan for England must improve cancer survival and transform cancer services.' The Cancer in the UK report warned that there has been almost no improvement to early diagnosis in the past 10 years. If I had access to more information on breast health when I was younger, I may have caught my symptoms earlier Nearly half of cases are still diagnosed in the later stages three and four, when a cure is much less likely. CRUK said: 'The Government must make a concerted effort to reduce the number of people diagnosed with cancer at a later stage, with a focus on cancers that would lead to the greatest benefit in survival such as lung and bowel.' Advertisement What does it mean to be 'in remission' after cancer? Hearing 'remission' after receiving cancer treatment is good news. Being 'in remission' after cancer means that there are no signs or symptoms of cancer detectable in the body with the use of scans or blood tests. The person show no signs directly related to the cancer either. It can be partial or complete - even with the latter, it does not mean the cancer is cured. 'Cured' is not a term doctors would like to use, because they cannot guarantee there are zero cancer cells in the body. Regular follow-up appointments and monitoring are essential to watch out for a possible return of the cancer. People might need to take medication to keep their cancer at bay, for example hormone treatments. Remission indicates that the cancer has responded to treatment and is currently under control. Partial remission: Some, but not all, signs and symptoms of cancer have disappeared. Complete remission: All signs and symptoms of cancer are gone, although this does not necessarily mean that the cancer has been cured.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Fund set up by Micheál Martin 20 years ago to cut hospital waiting lists under fresh scrutiny
In February, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill became the latest Minister for Health to announce a new initiative to reduce the amount of time patients have to wait for treatment in public hospitals . The Irish health system has been struggling for years to deal with growing waiting lists with bed and staffing capacity lagging behind demand. The answer for successive governments has been to either use the private sector or to get existing personnel to do more in their own time, while the Health Service Executive moved to increase its own resources. The amount of money allocated to these initiatives has been staggering. The Minister's plan in February involved a €420 million investment, including €190 million for the HSE and €230 million for the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) – the organisation established by Micheál Martin 20 years ago to buy treatment for public patients. READ MORE Between 2022 and 2024 under Stephen Donnelly , about €1.23 billion was allocated to the HSE and the NTPF. Government funding was essentially spent in three ways. First, it allowed the HSE to appoint more staff to increase its own capacity. Second, it allowed the NTPF to buy care in private facilities. Third, it allowed for what is known as 'insourcing', where health service personnel are paid by the NTPF or other entities to provide treatment outside normal hours in public hospitals for those on waiting lists. A recent internal report carried out by children's healthcare group CHI , has led to more intense scrutiny of the various waiting list initiatives. The report alleged that a doctor had delayed operations on children before eventually they were treated at weekend clinics that he was operating separately. In the Dáil, the Taoiseach said the CHI report 'makes for shocking reading of the most profound kind, which not just goes to the heart of the misuse of NTPF funding but more seriously raises fundamental concerns at that time about safety for children receiving surgery'. Cian O'Callaghan of the Social Democrats told the Dáil that the report found the consultant earned more than €35,000 by keeping very young children on a waiting list for years. 'They were eventually treated using the NTPF when they were transferred to the consultant's weekend clinic, but they could have been treated by other doctors years earlier. When all of this was discovered, it was kept a secret and the consultant was allowed to retire and sail into the sunset.' The Minister and HSE chief Bernard Gloster had been kept in the dark about the report but were given copies last week. There have been other controversies surrounding waiting list funding. On April 18th, Mr Gloster directed his senior leadership team to halt, for the present at least, aspects of the 'insourcing' arrangements. He commissioned a survey to establish the dependency of the health system on such practices and to ensure 'there were no unintended consequences'. Mr Gloster suspended insourcing where staff were 'engaged, hired or paid' by separate entities on initiatives in their area of work. Insourcing was only permitted in cases where the HSE directly engaged its own staff through payroll. His instructions followed discussions with Ms Carroll MacNeill and followed an internal audit report, details of which were revealed in The Irish Times last September. The HSE internal audit found two companies which received more than €1.5 million between them in contracts awarded by University Hospital Limerick without a competitive procurement process were owned or part-owned by employees at the facility. A third company, which received a contract of nearly €400,000, had a HSE employee at a different hospital as a director. Auditors stated €14.2 million was paid out to third-party providers by University Hospital Limerick in 2023 under the Government waiting list initiative without an open procurement process. Auditors said there was no evidence of the HSE employees being involved in the awarding of the contracts. In May, Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín told the Dáil in one case a consultant created a firm to read scans and 'used the hospital public waiting lists to then funnel work through rostering into his own private company'. The NTPF said it was deeply concerned at the CHI internal report. It said it had never received any complaints about hospitals or doctors. Last year, the fund paid €155 million to private hospitals and about €80 million to public facilities. It seeks private hospitals to tender for packages of care and it then attempts to match this capacity with those waiting longest in public facilities. Sara Burke, associate professor of health policy at Trinity College, said the NTPF and the various waiting list initiatives were initially established more than 20 years ago as temporary measures while the State built up its own public capacity. They had, however, become permanent, integral parts of the system, she said. 'Given the amounts of money now being allocated, there is a need to look at how transparent the arrangements are and the governance of these schemes,' she said. The Opposition is now calling for reforms. David Cullinane of Sinn Féin said there were concerns about potential conflicts of interest and called for a centralised system which would see patients referred to a hospital rather than an individual consultant. 'We have to ask genuine questions about what work some consultants are doing from Monday to Friday to carry out public procedures. We need to contrast that with the so-called blitzes and private clinics they are organising and running, while charging €200 for each client they see and making very handsome amounts of money.' Marie Sherlock of the Labour Party said she was uncomfortable about how the current arrangements had grown, the dependency on it that had developed and 'the ability of the public system to wean itself off it'. Mr Tóibín questioned the safeguards in place against conflicts of interest. 'Last year 80,000 public patients were treated in private hospitals at a cost of €100 million. The majority of these treatments should have been done in the public system.' Ms Carroll MacNeill told the Dáil she would be taking further steps to remove the anomalies, which she said existed 'because of the overhanging mix of public and private activity'.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Report reveals ‘toxic culture' among consultants at CHI hospital
A 'negative and toxic' work culture at a hospital run by Children's Health Ireland (CHI), in which multiple staff complained of 'unprofessional and disruptive behaviour from consultants', contributed to the undermining of care and treatment for sick children, an internal report has found. The CHI report also noted one consultant had taken a legal action for defamation against another. The report, which also revealed possible misuse of the National Treatment Purchase Fund , was compiled in 2021-2022 but was only given to the Department of Health last Monday. It paints an astonishing picture of the work culture in parts of one of the best-known hospitals in the country, where relations between some staff and between some staff and management had deteriorated to the point where 'challenging behaviour appears to be the norm'. READ MORE 'Numerous participants expressed concern for the emotional and physical wellbeing of colleagues working in the service,' it said. In some cases, it identified where the work culture and the interpersonal difficulties which characterised some key relationships had led to shortcomings in the case of patients. 'Dysfunctional relationships played a significant part in leading to two ... cases both of which led to surgeries evolving with complications and ultimately children having prolonged recoveries,' it said. 'Feedback from participants all describing an environment and working life that is adversely impacted by the 'negative' and 'toxic' culture that exists in the department.' [ Revelations show appalling personal behaviour among some CHI medics Opens in new window ] While the report did not identify the staff members involved by name, it laid out in detail how a small number of people were involved. 'Across multiple participants there was one consultant identified consistently as creating a psychologically unsafe environment not conducive to learning,' it said. 'Two specific examples where this consultant's behaviour and actions reportedly had a significant impact on trainee careers and/or wellbeing were staunchly brought to the attention of this examination through participant interviews.' In some cases, the behaviour led to the departure of other staff members. Three members of staff who left one department in the hospital all said they left 'for one reason only – bullying'. Staff members – including some highly skilled medical professionals who were training for senior roles – said one consultant would 'punish and exclude you, belittle you and say you were no good. I felt fearful, felt unsafe to ask [the consultant] for help.' 'There's a lot of people who have come across [the consultant's] path and it has had a detrimental impact on their lives,' said another. After giving examples of one consultant's behaviour, the report noted: 'The above reflections from very personal experiences appear to highlight a pattern of abrupt, unprofessional, intimidating and volatile behaviour. 'Behaviours displayed by this consultant appear to be consistent with and reflective of conduct that has been identified as leading to and creating a psychologically unsafe environment, that is an environment where an individual feels they may be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes.' The effect on trainees was especially acute, the report said, quoting one member of staff who said: 'Since I started I have been experiencing a lot of bullying/harassment mainly from two consultants ... I feel that I am working in a hostile environment, waiting to be victimised. I am subjected to humiliating and intimidating experiences. They are always undervaluing my performance. 'It has reached a stage that it is affecting my self-esteem, confidence and performance at work in hospital and also at home affecting my family life. The thought of doing on call with these consultants makes me so nervous and stressful.' CHI did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.
