Participation and health care provision of statutory skin cancer screening in Germany - a secondary data analysis

Abstract

Background: In Germany, skin cancer screening was introduced nationwide in July 2008. From the age of 35 years, members of the statutory health insurance are eligible for screening every 2 years.

Objective: The aim of this study is to calculate the participation rates and the proportions of health care providers of statutory skin cancer screening in Germany on a population-based level.

Methods: Data were provided by a nationwide German statutory health insurance, approximately 6.1 million members, covering the years 2008/2009. Participation rates were calculated per yearly quarter and were adjusted for age, gender and federal state.

Results: Approximately 920,000 insurants were screened from the third quarter of 2008 until the last quarter of 2009. Mean participation rate of skin cancer screening was 30.8%. Women had higher participation rates (31.9%) than men (29.7%). After adjusting for gender and federal state, high rates for pensioners at the age of 65-74 were confirmed at 39.4% on average for all yearly quarters. One of the highest gender- and age-adjusted rates was observed in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, where a population based pilot project had been implemented before the start of the nationwide screening programme. In general, without taking into account Berlin, former East Germany had a much lower gender- and age-adjusted participation rate (23.9%) than West Germany (33.3%). At the first quarter after implementation of screening, 58.5% of the screenings were provided by dermatologists and 41.5% by general practitioners.

Conclusion: Participation rates and health care providers of skin cancer screening can be calculated from secondary data and contribute to identify group- and region-specific participation patterns in order to improve early detection of skin cancer.