The CBS Evening News (3/15, story 6, 0:20, Couric) reported that "there has been a dramatic rise of certain types of skin cancer in older Americans. A new study of people on Medicare found that in just four years the number of procedures to treat non-melanoma skin cancers jumped about 77%. Researchers say the rise of sunbathing and tanning after World War II may have contributed to the increase."

        Bloomberg News (3/16, Ostrow) reports, "The number of Americans treated for non-melanoma skin cancer increased 14.3 percent from 2002 to 2006, according to" a study published March 16 in the Archives of Dermatology. In 2006 alone, researchers "estimated there were more than 3.5 million non-melanoma skin cancers in the US...and about 2.1 million people were treated for the malignancy that year." In a March 12 interview, dermatologist and study author Howard Rogers, MD, PhD, stated, "There's an epidemic of skin cancer," which he attributed to a continued "lack of appreciation of the danger of going out in the sun."

        The Los Angeles Times (3/15, Kaplan) "Booster Shots" blog reported that even though non-melanoma skin cancer "usually isn't deadly if found early," the economic toll of both basal cell and squamous cell skin cancer is "still significant. The American Academy of Dermatology says that treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer cost $1.5 billion in 2004."

        HealthDay (3/15, Goodwin) reported that in another study published March 16 in the Archives of Dermatology, researchers "developed a mathematical model to estimate the prevalence of non-melanoma skin cancer in the United States." They discovered that "more people have had non-melanoma skin cancer than all other cancers combined over the last 31 years." And, "in a third paper in the same journal, researchers from the US National Cancer Institute found survivors of one melanoma are about nine times as likely as the general population to develop a second melanoma."

        "Researchers say educating the public about sun protection has not slowed the disease, and more research is needed in treating and preventing non-melanoma skin cancer," WKBW-TV Buffalo, NY (3/16), an ABC affiliate, reports on its website.