Skin in the game: epidemiology analysis of skin cancer in rural Western Victoria
Introduction: The aim of this clinical review was to evaluate the number and types of skin cancer excised by GPs in a rural clinic in South West Victoria, Australia, and analyse the number needed to treat (NNT, a common metric for evaluating skin cancer detection) and the influence of clinician ex...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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James Cook University
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Rural and Remote Health |
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| Online Access: | https://www.rrh.org.au/journal/article/8471/ |
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| author | Tori Dopheide Jessica Feeney Joshua Eaton Jessica Beattie Rizwan Jaipurwala Lara Fuller Leesa Walker |
| author_facet | Tori Dopheide Jessica Feeney Joshua Eaton Jessica Beattie Rizwan Jaipurwala Lara Fuller Leesa Walker |
| author_sort | Tori Dopheide |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Introduction: The aim of this clinical review was to evaluate the number and types of skin cancer excised by GPs in a rural clinic in South West Victoria, Australia, and analyse the number needed to treat (NNT, a common metric for evaluating skin cancer detection) and the influence of clinician experience on diagnostic accuracy.
Methods: This retrospective audit of patient records was for two discrete time periods (14 October 2019 to 5 November 2020 and 1 February 2021 to 17 February 2022). Data extracted included number of lesions removed, location of lesions, skin cancers detected, and patient and clinician characteristics.
Results: A total of 789 lesions were excised; of these, 449 (56.9%) were histologically confirmed to be malignant. Males were statistically more likely to be diagnosed with a malignancy (p≤0.001). The NNTs for melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers were 5.4 and 1.4, respectively. Experienced GPs (>5 years experience) were better at detecting melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers than their junior colleagues.
Conclusion: This study investigated the demographic characteristics of rural skin cancer patients and the diagnostic skills of GPs in South West Victoria. Results obtained found males had a higher risk of skin cancer than females. The diagnostic accuracy for all skin cancers improved with clinician experience and a lower overall NNT for both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers when compared to existing literature. Differences in this may highlight the experience, exposure, and professional interest of rural GPs, addressing a lack of specialist services in the area.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-085b55da504148ada495e39a427e1829 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1445-6354 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | James Cook University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Rural and Remote Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-085b55da504148ada495e39a427e18292025-01-29T05:24:12ZengJames Cook UniversityRural and Remote Health1445-63542025-01-012510.22605/RRH8471Skin in the game: epidemiology analysis of skin cancer in rural Western VictoriaTori Dopheide0Jessica Feeney1Joshua Eaton2Jessica Beattie3Rizwan Jaipurwala4Lara Fuller5Leesa Walker6Deakin UniversityOceania University of MedicineDeakin UniversityDeakin UniversityDeakin UniversityDeakin UniversityFlinders University Introduction: The aim of this clinical review was to evaluate the number and types of skin cancer excised by GPs in a rural clinic in South West Victoria, Australia, and analyse the number needed to treat (NNT, a common metric for evaluating skin cancer detection) and the influence of clinician experience on diagnostic accuracy. Methods: This retrospective audit of patient records was for two discrete time periods (14 October 2019 to 5 November 2020 and 1 February 2021 to 17 February 2022). Data extracted included number of lesions removed, location of lesions, skin cancers detected, and patient and clinician characteristics. Results: A total of 789 lesions were excised; of these, 449 (56.9%) were histologically confirmed to be malignant. Males were statistically more likely to be diagnosed with a malignancy (p≤0.001). The NNTs for melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers were 5.4 and 1.4, respectively. Experienced GPs (>5 years experience) were better at detecting melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers than their junior colleagues. Conclusion: This study investigated the demographic characteristics of rural skin cancer patients and the diagnostic skills of GPs in South West Victoria. Results obtained found males had a higher risk of skin cancer than females. The diagnostic accuracy for all skin cancers improved with clinician experience and a lower overall NNT for both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers when compared to existing literature. Differences in this may highlight the experience, exposure, and professional interest of rural GPs, addressing a lack of specialist services in the area. https://www.rrh.org.au/journal/article/8471/Australiadiagnosticshealth educationlesionmelanomanon melanoma skin cancer |
| spellingShingle | Tori Dopheide Jessica Feeney Joshua Eaton Jessica Beattie Rizwan Jaipurwala Lara Fuller Leesa Walker Skin in the game: epidemiology analysis of skin cancer in rural Western Victoria Rural and Remote Health Australia diagnostics health education lesion melanoma non melanoma skin cancer |
| title | Skin in the game: epidemiology analysis of skin cancer in rural Western Victoria |
| title_full | Skin in the game: epidemiology analysis of skin cancer in rural Western Victoria |
| title_fullStr | Skin in the game: epidemiology analysis of skin cancer in rural Western Victoria |
| title_full_unstemmed | Skin in the game: epidemiology analysis of skin cancer in rural Western Victoria |
| title_short | Skin in the game: epidemiology analysis of skin cancer in rural Western Victoria |
| title_sort | skin in the game epidemiology analysis of skin cancer in rural western victoria |
| topic | Australia diagnostics health education lesion melanoma non melanoma skin cancer |
| url | https://www.rrh.org.au/journal/article/8471/ |
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