Poster Presentation Australasian Melanoma Conference 2026

Impact of routine skin cancer screening on morbidity and mortality: An Updated Systematic Review (#403)

Shannon Baker 1 , Rehana Abdus Salam 1 2 , Nehal Singh 1 , Lisa Melton 1 2 , Anne Cust 1 2
  1. The Daffodil Centre, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. Melanoma Institute Australia, Sydney

Background:

In 2022, the US Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) systematically reviewed evidence to assess the effectiveness of routine skin cancer screening in reducing skin cancer morbidity and mortality concluding that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms. Recently, the Australian Government committed $10 million to develop an evidence-based Roadmap for a national targeted skin cancer screening program. We updated the systematic review by the USPSTF on the effectiveness of routine skin cancer screening to inform the Roadmap. 

Methods:

We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to update the search from Jan 1st, 2022, till Apr 10th2026. Searches were imported into Covidence and two reviewers independently screened titles, abstracts and full texts to establish eligibility. We extracted data from the included studies and assessed risk of bias. Meta-analysis could not be conducted due to the insufficient data and heterogeneity in reported outcomes.

Results:

Ten studies (22 publications) were included, comprising four new studies. Included studies reported on two population-based screening programs from Germany; two prospective population-based cohort studies from Australia, one population-based case-control study from Australia, one non-randomized interventional study each from Belgium and USA, one prospective cohort each from Austria and Italy, and one retrospective hospital-based cohort from USA. Study quality was judged to be good for two cohort studies; all other studies were judged to be of either of fair or low quality. All direct evidence on the benefits of screening comes from non-randomised analyses of population-based screening programs in Germany and prospective population-based cohorts in Austria and Australia. There is currently insufficient evidence to determine the impact of routine skin cancer screening on melanoma mortality. The existing body of evidence suggested increased diagnosis of melanoma associated with screening, indicating the potential for overdiagnosis, particularly for detection of in situ and thin invasive melanomas. None of the included studies reported all-cause mortality.

Conclusion:

The existing evidence is insufficient to accurately determine the impact of routine skin cancer screening on melanoma morbidity or mortality.