Evaluation report on skin cancer screening published

Since mid-2008, all people with statutory health insurance over the age of 35 have had the opportunity to undergo free skin cancer screening every two years by a dermatologist or general practitioner. In order to evaluate the effects of this offer, the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) commissioned the BQS Institute to evaluate the skin cancer screening.

The evaluation was based on the documentation data of the years 2009 and 2010 - a total of almost 11 million data sets.
An influence of skin cancer screening on mortality could not be determined within the scope of the evaluation.
However, due to the short period of time since the introduction of the examination, this was not to be expected.
At the same time, however, it can be stated that - as an example for the year 2010 - a positive cancer result was found in a good 1% of those examined.
In 0.1% of those screened, melanoma (so-called "black skin cancer") was even found.