Burden of disease caused by keratinocyte cancer has increased in The Netherlands since 1989

Background: Keratinocyte cancer is the most common cancer among Caucasians.

Objective: We sought to study time trends of the burden of disease attributable to keratinocyte cancer in The Netherlands.

Methods: Data of all patients with newly diagnosed keratinocyte cancer (ie, squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma) were obtained from the population-based Netherlands Cancer Registry and the Eindhoven Cancer Registry (1989-2008). Population structure, mortality data, and life expectancy data were extracted from Statistics Netherlands. The disability-adjusted life-years (DALY) was the sum of the years of life lived with disability and the years of life lost.

Results: The world standardized rate of keratinocyte cancer has doubled and was 103 and 94 per 100,000 person-years for males and females in 2004 to 2008, respectively. DALYs as a result of basal cell carcinoma increased by 124% and DALYs as a result of squamous cell carcinoma increased by 66% from 1989 to 1993. Keratinocyte cancer accounted for a total loss of 19,913 DALYs (15,369 years of life lived with disability and 4544 years of life lost) between 2004 and 2008.

Limitations: Only the first keratinocyte cancer was included in this study.

Conclusion: Keratinocyte cancer is a large burden to the Dutch society. Because incidence rates of keratinocyte cancer continue to increase, the management becomes even more challenging.