Population Skin Cancer Screening and Melanoma Mortality Rates

Is the German skin cancer screening program, which was implemented in 2008, associated with reduced melanoma mortality?In this comparative effectiveness study using population data from Germany and 9 neighboring countries, trends in age-standardized melanoma mortality rates between 2009 and 2022 in Germany were compared with those in neighboring countries without population-based screening for skin cancer. No statistically significant difference in the annual percentage change of melanoma mortality was found.These findings are in line with previous studies that failed to show a melanoma mortality benefit associated with the current German skin cancer screening program.

Corresponding Author: Joachim Hübner, MD, SJD, Agency for Clinical Cancer Data of Lower Saxony, OFFIS CARE GmbH, Industriestraße 9, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany (huebner@offis-care.de).

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