Health system costs and systemic treatment patterns by disease stage for 8577 people diagnosed with melanoma in New South Wales, Australia 2006–2019

13 Jul 20264 min read0 viewsJournal Feed

GIST (Key Takeaways)

by David E. Goldsbury, Anne E. Cust, Caroline Watts, Alison Pearce, Philip Haywood, Louisa G.
Collins, Preston Ngo, Kirstie McLoughlin, Michael Caruana, Karen Canfell, Julia Steinberg, Marianne F. Weber Background Australia has the highest melanoma rates in the world. Melanoma is the third most common invasive cancer in Australia, and the number of in situ diagnoses is rapidly increasing.
Treatment for non-localised stage melanoma is evolving, improving survival and increasing costs. We describe the costs and selected treatments by stage of disease for people diagnosed with melanoma in a large Australian cohort study. Methods Questionnaire data for participants in the Australian 45 and Up Study (n = 267,357 recruited 2005–2009) were linked with cancer registrations, hospital records and Medicare claims records.
To estimate the government healthcare costs attributable to melanoma, total costs for each participant with melanoma were compared to costs for matched cancer-free controls. Multivariable gamma regression was used to estimate factors associated with costs. We also examined the distribution of melanoma treatments by disease stage.

Clinical Editorial

PLOS ONE (Medicine) published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 13 Jul 2026.

The item focuses on Health system costs and systemic treatment patterns by disease stage for 8577 people diagnosed with melanoma in New South Wales, Australia 2006–2019.

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