Analysis of 15 years of skin cancer in central Iran (Yazd).

Skin cancer incidences over a 15-year period (1987-2001) were studied in Yazd, a hot, dry, desert area in the center of Iran. The mean skin cancer frequency was determined to be 28.6 percent and 1,124 patients were diagnosed with skin cancer during this time period, approximately 11 per 100,000. The most common skin cancer was basal cell carcinoma, accounting for 76.9 percent. Squamous cell carcinoma was diagnosed in 18.1 percent and melanoma in 2.7 percent; 2.3 percent were other uncommon skin cancers. Most cancers were diagnosed in the seventh and eighth decades of life. The face, head, and neck were the sites of 92 percent of skin cancers. The sex ratio was determined to be 1.6 (male/female), similar to other reported populations. However, melanoma was found to be 1.5 times higher in men in this study, in contrast to most studied populations. Skin cancer incidence in Iran is lower than western countries. It is very likely that clothing and body covering customs can account for such differences.