Screening for Skin Cancer: An Update of the Evidence for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

Background: Skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States. The majority of skin cancer is nonmelanoma cancer, either basal cell cancer or squamous cell cancer. The inci-dence of both melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer has been increasing over the past 3 decades. In 2001, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) found insufficient evidence to recom-mend for or against routine screening for skin cancer by using whole-body skin examination for early detection of skin cancer. Purpose: To update the evidence of benefits and harms of screen-ing for skin cancer in the general population. Data Sources: MEDLINE and Cochrane Library searches from 1 June 1999 to 9 August 2005 for English-language articles; recent systematic reviews; reference lists of retrieved articles; and expert suggestions. Study Selection: English-language studies were selected to answe