Cancer of the skin in Zimbabwe: an analysis based on the Cancer Registry 1986 to 1992.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether skin cancers are increasing.


METHODS
Cancer Registry series.


METHODS
Cancer Registry Office in Harare, Zimbabwe. This registry serves the referral hospitals in Harare and Bulawayo.


METHODS
All cancer patients (9,029 males, 8,730 females) notified from 1986 to 1992.


METHODS
Proportion of skin cancer to the total cancers notified.


RESULTS
The limitations of the Cancer Registry were noted. In Black Zimbabweans, skin cancers increased from 381 (11% of all notifications) in 1986 to 1,346 (29.7% of all notifications) in 1992. The increase was due to an increase in Kaposi's sarcoma in both men and women although the number notified in women was a quarter of that notified in men. In White Zimbabweans, there was a significant increase in basal cell carcinoma in men and this cancer increased with age from 6.52 per 1,000 population in people 30 to 54 years to 25.04 per 1,000 in those over 54 years of age.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings show that the number of people with skin cancers is on the increase probably due to the AIDS epidemic and also the aging of the White population, with implications for the demand for health care for treating these cancers in a health service working on a very tight budget.
Watts
T
T
University of Zimbabwe Medical School, Department of Community Medicine, Avondale, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Siziya
S
S
Chokunonga
E
E
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D018563:Disease Notification; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D044469:Racial Groups; D012042:Registries; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015030:Zimbabwe / Q000453:epidemiology