How many people in the UK get malignant melanoma?
A. Somewhere in the region of 6000 new cases per year, and over 1600 deaths. That compares to an incidence of around 41,300 for breast cancer and 3,200 for cervical cancer. Unfortunately, the rate of melanoma has doubled every 10 years for the past 40 years. Although the numbers for melanoma are not as high as some other kinds of cancers, melanoma can kill relatively young people. Statistics from Australia where there is a very high incidence of melanoma indicates that in terms of years of human life lost, melanoma is the leading killer.
