Vermont Business MagazineFlorida has the highest rate of skin cancer in the nation. While this might not be surprising, Vermont ranks fourth overall, according to a new report released by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Meanwhile, dangerous melanoma diagnoses in the USincreased 7 percent over a four-year span, according to information released in BCBSA’s Health of America Report. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, people who first use a tanning bed before age 35 increase their risk for melanoma by 75 percent. “Skin exposure to ultraviolet light is as likely to cause cancer as smoking cigarettes,” said Dr. Trent Haywood, senior vice president and chief medical officer for BCBSA. “Americans should enjoy the sun, but also use the proper precautions to avoid too much exposure to ultraviolet light. Tanning beds should be avoided altogether in light of research documenting the strong correlation to skin cancer.”
Findings show that the rate of Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) members living with melanoma more than double when men reach ages 55 through 64 and surpass rates for women in that age range. Women 54 years and younger have higher prevalence of diagnosed melanoma than men. Non-melanoma skin cancer diagnoses are more prevalent in women at 4.6 percent compared to men at 3.5 percent, but the average cost of treating women is $468 compared to $678 for men.
In 2013, 237,000 commercially insured BCBS members within a sample of 41 million people were identified as having diagnosed melanoma, compared to 257,000 in 2016. Despite the increase, melanoma made up just 2.8 percent of all skin cancer diagnoses.
Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States: Nearly 9,500 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with it every single day, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Skin cancer affected 4.3 percent of BCBS members. By taking the skin cancer diagnosis rate found in the study and extrapolating it to 216 million privately insured people counted by the U.S. Census Bureau, BCBSA estimates that nine million privately insured people in the U.S. are living with a skin cancer diagnosis.
BCBSA also published a list ranking states and metropolitan areas by skin cancer prevalence (including basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, melanoma and other uncommon skin cancers) and found:
States with the highest diagnosed skin cancer prevalence rates include:
- Florida (7.1 percent)
- Washington, D.C. (5.8 percent)
- Connecticut (5.6 percent)
- Maryland (5.3 percent)
- Rhode Island (5.3 percent)
- Vermont (5.3 percent)
States with the lowest rates include:
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Hawaii (1.8 percent)
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Oklahoma (2.6 percent)
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Mississippi (2.7 percent)
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North Dakota (2.8 percent)
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Wisconsin (2.9 percent)
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Cities with the highest rates:
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Sarasota-Bradenton, FL(10.0 percent)
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Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie, FL (9.5 percent)
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West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL (9.5 percent)
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Barnstable-Yarmouth, MA ( 8.6 percent)
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Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay, FL (8.6 percent)
Cities with the lowest rates:
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Laredo, TX (1.1 percent)
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Brownsville-Harlingen-San Benito, TX (1.4 percent)
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El Paso, TX (1.4 percent)
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Mcallen-Edinburg-Mission, TX (1.4 percent)
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Honolulu, HI (1.5 percent)
According to a Vermont Department of Health report from 2016, melanoma can occur at any age, including adolescence. Both exposures to natural and artificial UV radiation and sunburns during childhood increase the risk of developing melanoma. Vermonters age 18‐34 are more likely to have reported at least one sunburn in the last year than those aged 35 and older. Only 27 percent of Vermont middle school students, and just 16% of high school students, reported wearing sunscreen (SPF 15+) always or most of the time when outside for over an hour on a sunny day (YRBS). Protective practices during childhood are particularly important since sunburns during that time increase the risk of melanoma by as much as 80 percent.
In 2011, 10 percent of Vermont high school students reported using a tanning booth or sunlamp in the past year (YRBS). Female high school students were four times as likely to have reported using a tanning device (17%) compared to high school males (4%). The use of tanning devices before age 35 years increase melanoma risk by as much as 75 percent.
Younger women appear to have increased exposure to UV radiation, and women under the age of 40 have higher rates of melanoma compared to men. Men over age 65 have significantly higher rates of melanoma compared to women.
Diagnoses of skin cancers are higher inMassachusetts (6th in US at 5.0 percent) than the national average and are even higher onCape Cod, which has the third highest rate of diagnosis in the nation. Skin cancers are diagnosed at a rate of 4.3 percent nationally. InMassachusetts, the rate of diagnosis is 5 percent - tied for sixth highest in the country. In the Barnstable-Yarmouth Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) the rate of diagnosis is 8.6 percent - double the national average.
"These numbers are obviously alarming," said Dr.Bruce Nash, chief physician executive at Blue Cross Blue Shield ofMassachusetts. "We're often ranked as one of the healthiest states in the nation, but we clearly have more work to do to educate residents about the risk of skin cancer, especially on the Cape. We encourage our members to get outside, be active and enjoy the nice weather, but we also want to stress the importance of sun protection, including UV-blocking sunglasses, hats with a brim, and broad spectrum sunscreens with a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) of 15 or higher."
Skin cancer includes basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, melanoma and other uncommon skin cancers.
Skin cancer is the most common cancer inthe United States: Nearly 9,500 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with it each day, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. By taking the skin cancer diagnosis rate of 4.3 percent of Blue Cross members found in the study and extrapolating it to 216 million privately insured people counted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the BCBSA estimates that nine million privately insured people in the U.S. have skin cancer.
The findings are based on medical claims data from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Health IndexSM(BCBS Health Index℠), a first-of-its-kind measurement of health for nearly every county in America. It encompasses more than 200 conditions that impact health and identifies those health conditions with the greatest impact on the commercially insured population. The BCBS Health Index is powered by de-identified medical claims data from more than 41 million commercially insured members of BCBS companies. The interactive website allows people to measure the overall health and identify the top 10 conditions that negatively impact health at the state and county levels.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield: The Health of America Report® is a collaboration between BCBSA and Blue Health Intelligence, which uses a market-leading claims database to uncover key trends and insights into health care affordability and access to care.
For more information, visitwww.bcbs.com/healthofamerica.
About BHI
Blue Health Intelligence (BHI) is the nation’s premier resource for data-driven insights about healthcare trends and best practices, promoting healthier lives and more affordable access to safe and effective care. BHI leverages a team of analytics experts and advanced technology, coupled with access to the greatest number of healthcare claims—172 million lives—gathered over 10 years in a safe, HIPAA-compliant, secure database. The resulting conformed, reliable data set has the broadest, deepest pool of integrated medical and pharmacy claims, reflecting medical utilization in every ZIP code. Blue Health Intelligence (BHI) is an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. BHI is a trade name of Health Intelligence Company, LLC.www.bluehealthintelligence.com.
ABOUT BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD ASSOCIATION
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is a national federation of 36 independent, community-based and locallyoperated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies that collectively provide health care coverage for one in three Americans. BCBSA provides health care insights throughThe Health of America Reportseries and the nationalBCBS Health Indexsm. For more information on BCBSA and its member companies, please visitBCBS.com. We also encourage you to connect with us onFacebook, check out our videos onYouTube, follow us onTwitterand check out ourblog.
SOURCE BOSTON,June 1, 2018/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Blue Cross Blue Shield www.bcbs.com