Cancer prevention: Skin protection
About skin cancer
Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world.[22] Skin cancers can be:
- melanomas
- squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs)
- basal cell carcinomas (BCCs).
SCCs and BCCs are often grouped together as non‑melanoma skin cancers.
For every three melanoma‑related deaths, there is one non‑melanoma skin cancer death in Australia.[23]
Skin cancers and ultraviolet (UV) radiation
Skin cancer is a highly preventable cancer. At least 95% of melanoma skin cancers and 99% of non‑melanoma skin cancers are caused by overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun and tanning beds.[23]
Preventing skin cancer
The NSW Skin Cancer Prevention Strategy brings government, non‑government and community organisations together to:
- increase the use of sun protection policies and guidelines
- improve access to adequate shade
- increase the use of sun protection behaviours.
Progress is being made in each of these areas.
Advice for the community
It is important to develop life‑long sun protection habits:
- Slip on clothing that covers your arms and legs.
- Slop on SPF30+ broad‑spectrum, water resistant sunscreen before leaving the house, and re‑apply every two hours.
- Slap on a broad‑brimmed hat that protects your face, ears and neck.
- Seek shade whenever you can, especially between the hours of 10am and 3pm.
- Slide on wrap‑around sunglasses.
Health professionals should also remind their patients of these important skin protection behaviours
Overall key findings:
In 2016, sun protective behaviours varied among the adult population in NSW. Approximately one-third of survey respondents wore hats and approximately two-thirds of survey respondents wore sunglasses when out in the sun for more than 15 minutes.
Note: These data were the latest available at the time they were extracted (May 2019). For the most recent population health data, visit www.healthstats.nsw.gov.au
Proportion of adults who always or often used sun protection when out in the sun for more than 15 minutes, NSW, 2014 and 2016
Key findings:
- Adoption of sun protection behaviours among NSW adults remains low.
- In 2016, a minority of adults adopted sun protection behaviours when out in the sun for more than 15 minutes.
N= Number of survey respondents.
Notes:
1. Data source: NSW Population Health Survey 2016 (Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, NSW Ministry of Health).
Proportion of adults* who had access to shade while outdoors, NSW, 2014 and 2016
Key finding:
In 2016, more than 70% of NSW adults had access to shade while outdoors at public parks, public pools and sporting areas.
* People aged 18 years and over.
N = Number of survey respondents.
Notes:
1. Data source: NSW Population Health Survey 2016 (Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, NSW Ministry of Health).
Proportion of young people* who prefer having tan (light to very dark), by local health district (LHD) (ranked), 2014 and 2017
Key findings:
- In 2017, the preference for a tan among young people reduced to 57.6% compared to 60.7% in 2014.
- The proportion of young people who prefer having a tan ranged from 45.1% to 70.3% across LHDs in 2017.
N= Number of survey respondents.
* People aged 12-17 years.
Notes:
1. Data source: NSW School Students Health Behaviours Survey (Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, NSW Ministry of Health).
2. The figures for Far West LHD are not available because they are very small.
Sunburn emergency department admission rate, by local health district (LHD) (ranked), July 2007 to June 2017
Key finding:
The sunburn emergency department admission rate in NSW was 6.8 per 100,000 person years in 2007–2017. The range for 2017 was 3.3% to 11.9% across LHDs.
Notes:
1. Data source: NSW Ministry of Health Emergency Department Data Collection (EDDC) for the period July 2007 to June 2017
2. Age-standardised admission rate is the rate in a given population that has been standardised to a reference population with a standard age distribution. The Australian 2001 population is used as the reference population, and the rate is expressed per 100,000 people.
Why are different time periods and dates reported?
Cancer information is collected from many places, so it takes time to review and analyse it. Different pieces of information may be collected over different time periods, or reported at different times. This means that not all of the measures reported here have the same dates.
The information presented is the most recent available for each measure at the time the report was developed.
Why are confidence intervals reported here?
Confidence intervals are included when a small sample is used to represent the overall population, because there is a chance of an error due to this scaling.
In this report, a 95% confidence interval is presented only on charts where a sample of the population is used. This interval can be thought of as a margin of error.
The larger the sample size, the smaller the confidence interval range. The smaller the sample size, the larger the confidence interval range.