Cancer Registry sees melanoma in men keep rising to the level of women, while survival climbs to 96 percent
The risk of the most aggressive skin cancer has more than doubled in twenty years, but three in four cases are caught early.
For the first time, men and women in Belgium face the same risk of melanoma once the age structure of the population is taken into account. That is the finding of new figures from the Belgian Cancer Registry, reported by VRT NWS and La Libre. In 2024, 4,285 new cases were diagnosed, 2,256 in women and 2,029 in men. The risk has more than doubled in twenty years, rising on average by over 4 percent a year in women and over 5 percent in men. Over the past three years it stabilised in women while continuing to climb in men.
Up to about the age of 60 women still have the higher risk, after which men take over. Bart Van Gool of the Cancer Registry told VRT NWS that women used to sunbathe more, but that men now do so too. Oncologist Bart Neyns of UZ Brussel points to higher UV exposure as the climate warms and to awareness campaigns that mainly targeted women.
There is good news as well. More than three in four melanomas are found at the earliest stage, and five-year net survival rose from 88 percent for diagnoses made between 2004 and 2009 to 96 percent for 2020 to 2024. At stage 4 it went from 27 to 39 percent, helped by immunotherapy. The registry advises avoiding sunburn, using protection and having suspicious spots checked quickly.