Skin cancer as a cause of death in Denmark

Denmark has a well-established nation-wide registration system for cancer incidence and mortality. In 1984, 2984 new cases of non-melanoma skin cancer were notified to the Danish Cancer Registry and 40 deaths were attributed to this cause. An evaluation and validation of the death certificates indicate that the true number of deaths caused by non-melanoma skin cancer was 18. Basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma accounted for three and 15 of the deaths, respectively. The estimated lethality is 4.3% for squamous cell carcinoma and 0.12% for basal cell carcinoma.