Takeaway
- The number of patients newly diagnosed with eyelid SCC rose by approximately 4%/y between 2000 and 2014.
Why this matters
- Compared to SCC of the skin, SCC affecting the head and neck has a higher risk of metastasis to the local, nervous and lymphatic system.
- Periocular SCC has a particularly high risk of causing severe morbidity and occasional mortality through local invasion to the orbit, the brain, eye, nose, facial bones and sinuses.
- This is the only recent comprehensive evaluation of the demographics of eyelid SCC in England over more than a decade.
- The increased risk associated with male sex is only present in patients aged ≥50 and has not been reported in other studies of skin SCC.
Key results
- Between 2000 and 2014, there were 4022 patients in England diagnosed with eyelid SCC as their first SCC.
- Mean age-standardised incidence rate was 0.63 cases per 100,000 population per year.
- Relative risk was 1.9 (95% CI 1.5-2.3) times greater in men than in women.
- Incidence rate approximately doubled with every decade of life over the age of 60.
- Social deprivation quintile by income was not associated with risk.
Study design
- Analysis of population-based national data for England extracted from the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS).
- Funding: none specified.
Limitations
- Only the first SCC biopsied is recorded by NCRAS.
- Patients with previous SCC were omitted.
- Only 147 patients aged <50y were included.
References
References