About 20% of Americans develop skin cancer during their lifetime, and the 5-year overall survival rate for melanoma is over 90 percent. Taking this as the mortality risk, i.e. ignoring timing and varied risk levels, it’s a 2% risk of (eventual) death.
But risk of skin cancer depends on far more than sun exposure—and the more important determinant is frequency of sunbathing below age 30. Other factors that seem to matter are skin color, skin response (how much you burn,) weight, and family history of cancers.
About 20% of Americans develop skin cancer during their lifetime, and the 5-year overall survival rate for melanoma is over 90 percent. Taking this as the mortality risk, i.e. ignoring timing and varied risk levels, it’s a 2% risk of (eventual) death.
But risk of skin cancer depends on far more than sun exposure—and the more important determinant is frequency of sunbathing below age 30. Other factors that seem to matter are skin color, skin response (how much you burn,) weight, and family history of cancers.