Non-melanoma skin cancer

This section provides statistics on non-melanoma skin cancer deaths in New Zealand.

159 New Zealanders died from non-melanoma skin cancer in 2016

In 2016, 159 people died from non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) in New Zealand.  Males represented two-thirds of these deaths (108 male deaths, compared with 51 female deaths).

Since 2001, the overall age-standardised rate of NMSC deaths has been relatively stable (Figure 1).  Males had a consistently higher mortality rate than females over this time period.

Figure 1: Non-melanoma skin cancer mortality rate, by sex, 2001–2016 (age-standardised rate per 100,000)

Older people had higher mortality rates

In 2015–16, the mortality rates for NMSC were much higher in older age groups, especially so among males (Figure 2).   

Figure 2: Non-melanoma skin cancer mortality rate, by age group and sex, 2015–16 (crude rate per 100,000)

Mostly people of European/Other ethnicity affected

Between 2007-2016, almost all NMSC deaths were among people of European/Other ethnicity (1,320 out of 1,357 deaths, 97.3%).  

For more information, see the factsheet (in the Downloads box).

Information about the data

Non-melanoma skin cancer deaths

Source: Ministry of Health – New Zealand Mortality Collection.
Definition: Non-melanoma skin cancer comprises all cancers classified as ICD-10 AM C44. Rates are per 100,000 people, and have been age-standardised to the WHO world standard population.  

The New Zealand Cancer Registry does not require notification of non-melanoma skin cancers. For this reason, an indicator on non-melanoma skin cancer registrations is not possible.

References

1. WHO. 2010. Solar Ultraviolet Radiation: Assessing the environmental burden of disease at national and local levels. Geneva: World Health Organization.

2. BPAC. 2013. Managing non-melanoma skin cancer in primary care. BPJ 57:4-16. Accessed online (Oct 2017): https://bpac.org.nz/BPJ/2013/December/docs/BPJ57-non-melanoma.pdf