Researchers from University Hospital Essen Describe Findings in Skin Cancer (The Impossibility of Mortality Evaluation of Skin Cancer Screening In Germany Based On Health Insurance Data: a Case-control Study): Oncology – Skin Cancer

2022 DEC 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on Oncology - Skin Cancer. According to news reporting originating from Essen, Germany, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The aim of this paper was to perform a mortality evaluation of skin cancer screening (SCS) in Germany using General Local Health Insurance Fund (AOK) data. AOK-insured men and women aged 35-99 years who died of cutaneous malignant melanoma in 2015-2016 were identified.”

Financial support for this research came from Innovation Committee of the Federal Joint Committee.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from University Hospital Essen, “Controls were AOK-insured people who survived to the end of each case’s year of death. For each case, 10 controls were matched. The SCS history of each individual was reconstructed using the billing codes 01745 and 01746. In total, 1037 melanoma deaths and 10,370 controls were included. Cumulative SCS prevalence increased among controls over calendar years, as expected (males and females, 2009: 13.5% and 12.5%; 2015: 52.1% and 55.1%). In contrast, among cases, cumulative SCS prevalence was already high in 2009 and did not show a monotonic increase over the years of diagnosis. Of the 1037 melanoma deaths, 224 (21.6%) had at least one SCS settled in the 12 months after diagnosis. A mortality evaluation with health insurance data alone is not possible because SCS billing codes are not only used for real SCS but also for occasion-related diagnostic work-up of abnormal skin findings.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “A mortality evaluation with health insurance data requires an individual linking with data of the screening physician and the cancer registries.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: The Impossibility of Mortality Evaluation of Skin Cancer Screening In Germany Based On Health Insurance Data: a Case-control Study. European Journal of Cancer, 2022;173:52-58. European Journal of Cancer can be contacted at: Elsevier Sci Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, Oxon, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; European Journal of Cancer - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/european-journal-of-cancer/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Andreas Stang, University Hospital Essen, Inst Med Informat Biometry & Epidemiol, Hufelandstr 55, D-45147 Essen, Germany. Additional authors for this research include Katrin Schuldt, Pietro Trocchi, Hildegard Lax, Michael Nonnemacher, Silke Neusser, Christian Speckemeier, Kathrin Pahmeier and Juergen Wasem.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2022.06.009. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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