Skin cancer in Puerto Rico: a multiannual incidence comparative study.

Background: The incidence of skin cancer continues to increase worldwide. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of skin cancer in Puerto Rico in a selected year (2005) and to compare these findings with those previously reported for Puerto Rico in 1974 and 1981 and with other countries.

Methods: The data was collected from the pathology reports corresponding to the period of January to December 2005 of 21 participating Pathology Laboratories throughout Puerto Rico.