Skin cancer prevention Analyzing the German skin cancer screening program

Background Malignant neoplasms of the skin have become the most common types of cancer worldwide. Detected in time, this type of cancer is curable. In order to detect the disease as early as possible, a systematic skin cancer screening program was introduced nationwide in Germany in 2008. However, its benefits are still controversial today: the reasons could be related to deficits in quality. Objectives Effectiveness of the nationwide skin cancer screening program, perceived quality of the visual whole-body examination, perceived quality of medical advice during the screening and participation in the skin cancer screening were assessed. Materials and methods Discussion of basic scientific work and expert recommendations, analysis of research results and trend analyses. Results The current data situation regarding the effectiveness of skin cancer screening is insufficient. Previous evaluations of structural and process quality are weak. There are clear deficits in the proper performance of the standardized whole-body skin examination. Moreover, medical advice on protective behaviors, individual risk factors and how to carry out the skin self-examination is rarely given. From 2009 to 2018, more than 42% of eligible patients with statutory health insurance did not participate in the skin cancer screening at all. In 2020, participation continued to decline. Conclusions In order to reach full potential of the systematic skin cancer screening program and to optimize early detection, a profound quality offensive is necessary. It should address the quality of implementation as well as documentation and evaluation.