Hundreds of melanoma cases may have gone undiagnosed in Finland in 2020 as the Covid pandemic slowed down health care services, according to Finnish cancer organisations.
In 2020, skin cancer was diagnosed in 826 Finnish men and 717 women — or a total of just over 1,500 cases — compared to the regular average of nearly 2,000 cases per year, according to Professor Nea Malila, director of the Finnish Cancer Registry (FCR).
Finland's recorded skin cancer case rate is among the highest in the world, according to the World Cancer Research Fund's latest report.
The research fund's international statistics for 2020 show Denmark ranking third, Norway fifth, Sweden sixth and Finland tenth in terms of age-standardised incidence rates of skin cancer. Australia has the highest melanoma incidence rate in the world.
Skin type and tanning preferences do not match
While Australia features the highest melanoma incidence rate in the world, the country's weather conditions are hardly comparable to that in the Nordics, there are other commonalities: skin type and tanning preferences.
A Finnish Cancer Society survey carried out last spring found 63 percent of respondents saying they believed tanned skin looked good, with more than half reporting that they tan at least occasionally.
Although skin type and sun exposure conditions remaining largely unchanged, Malila said the uptick in melanoma cases in the 2000s could be the result of earlier sunbathing habits, like people allowing themselves to get sunburns.
The previous recorded spikes in melanoma cases was in the 1970s and 1980s, when a rise in disposable income among consumers in Finland began to spur foreign travel.
Malila said that melanoma patients in Finland are often diagnosed early, which partly explains the statistics, adding that as less severe cases are detected they are also easier to treat.
This is also reflected in much improved prognoses. These days, 94 percent of melanoma patients survive five years after diagnosis, compared to a proportion of just 35 percent in the 1960s.
Despite the current generation having more knowledge about skin cancer dangers than before, widespread changes in habits about sun protection will not occur overnight, Malila said.
As a person ages, the more radiation and sunburns they have suffered over the years, the greater their risk of melanoma, she noted.