Abstract

RAMOS, P  and  FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS MEDICAS. UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE ASUNCION. Cátedra de Epidemiología y Ecología. 2. Cátedra de Dermatología. 3. Estudiantes de Primer Año de Medicina y Cirugía et al. Epidemiology of skin cancer in patients treated at the Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medical Sciences of the National University of Asuncion, Paraguay (2008-2011). An. Fac. Cienc. Méd. (Asunción) [online]. 2012, vol.45, n.2, pp.49-70. ISSN 1816-8949.

ABSTRACT Skin cancer is the one that affects the skin tissue. There is an abrupt increase of its number; furthermore, its frequency is as much as 5 times higher than breast and prostate cancers. This disease incidence is dramatically increasing as a result of a longer life span and a better life standard, which encourage spare time activities that involve long-time exposure to sunlight. The main objective was to determine the skin cancer epidemiological traits in patients attended in the department of dermatology of the Medical School of the National University of Asuncion during the years 2008 to 2011. The type of study done was a non experimental, observational, descriptive, retrospective and cross-sectional. Data collection was done in the department of dermatology of the Medical School of the National University of Asuncion, and occurred in the period of July 1st of 2008 to December 31st of 2011. The study used a non-probability sampling, specifically a convenience one. The sampling included 280 patients. All patients with diagnoses of basal-cell carcinoma, squamous-cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma and Kaposi sarcoma were included in the sampling, while in the other hand, patients with the less common types of skin cancer that were not a melanoma type were all excluded. Between 2008 and 2011, 40818 people got medical consultation services regarding a skin cancer suspicion, and 280 out of them were diagnosed skin cancer. The global frecuency was 0.69%. The highest number was that of 2009, although the lowest was that of 2011. Regarding the ages, the average age was 48.7 and the most affected group was the one from 50 to 59 years old. 54.6% were women, most of them from Asuncion, and the majority of them worked as housekeepers. Basal-cell carcinoma was registered the most (84.2%); in the other hand the less frequent was the Kaposi Sarcoma (2.8%). Keywords: Cancer. Skin. Dermatology. Asuncion. Great Asuncion.

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