Hundreds of melanoma cases may have remained undiagnosed in Finland in 2020 as the Covid pandemic slowed down healthcare services, Finnish cancer organizations estimate.
In 2020, skin cancer was diagnosed in 826 Finnish men and 717 women — or a total of slightly more than 1,500 cases — compared to the normal average of nearly 2,000 cases a year, according to the professor Nea MalilaDirector of the Finnish Cancer Registry (FCR).
According to the World Cancer Research Fund, skin cancer cases found in Finland are among the highest in the world latest report.
The research fund’s international statistics for 2020 show that Denmark ranks third, Norway fifth, Sweden sixth and Finland tenth in age-standardized skin cancer incidence rates. Australia has the highest incidence of melanoma in the world.
Skin type and tanning preferences do not match
Australia has the highest incidence of melanoma in the world, but the country’s weather conditions are hardly comparable to the weather conditions in the Nordic countries, but there are other common features: skin type and tanning preferences.
In a survey conducted by the Finnish Cancer Society last spring, 63 percent of respondents said that tanned skin looks good, and more than half reported that they tan at least occasionally.
Although skin type and conditions of sun exposure remained largely unchanged, Malila said the rise in melanoma cases in the 2000s may have been due to earlier sun exposure habits, such as allowing people to tan.
The previous increase in melanoma cases was in the 1970s and 1980s, when the increase in the disposable income of Finnish consumers began to accelerate foreign travel.
Malila said that melanoma patients in Finland are often diagnosed at an early stage, which partly explains the statistics, and added that when less difficult cases are detected, they are also easier to treat.
This is also reflected in much improved forecasts. Today, 94 percent of melanoma patients survive five years after diagnosis, compared to only 35 percent in the 1960s.
Despite the fact that today’s generation knows more about the dangers of skin cancer than before, sweeping changes in sun protection habits won’t happen overnight, Malila said.
The more a person ages, the more he has suffered from radiation and sunburn over the years, the higher his risk of developing melanoma, he pointed out.
Source: The Nordic Page