title: Measuring current and future cost of skin cancer in England.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Increasing incidence of and mortality from skin cancer are posing a large financial burden on the NHS in England. Information provided by cost-of-illness (CoI) studies are used in policy making and are particularly useful for measuring the potential savings from averting a case of disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  We estimate the cost of skin cancer in England, and model future costs up to 2020. We compare two costing approaches (top-down and bottom-up).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We estimate that costs due to skin cancer were in the range of £106-£112 million in 2008. These figures are very closely related to those provided by the Department of Health (estimated to be £104.0 million in 2007-8 and £105.2 million 2008-9). The expected cost per case of malignant melanoma was estimated to be £2607 and £2560, using the bottom-up and top-down approaches, respectively. The mean cost per case of non-melanoma skin cancer was £889 and £1226, respectively. We estimate that the cost to the NHS due to skin cancer will amount to over £180 million in 2020.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Effective prevention of skin cancer might not only reduce a significant burden of disease but it could also save considerable resources to the NHS.
authors.affiliation: UCL Clinical Trials Unit, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vallejo-Torres
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kinge
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Poirier
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Verne
mesh_terms: D017281:Cost of Illness; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005544:Forecasting; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: burden of disease; cost; cost of illness; skin cancer