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Residential UV Exposure Not Linked with Melanoma

Cancer Causes Control; ePub 2016 May 6; Ransohoff, et al

There is an increase in nonmelanoma skin cancer risk associated with residential ultraviolet (UV) exposure in adulthood, with no effect for childhood UV exposure, according to a recent study. Researchers sought to determine the impact of residential exposure during childhood (birth, 15 years) vs adulthood (35, 50 years, and present) on incident nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) and malignant melanoma (MM) in postmenopausal women. A total of 56,557 women were followed with yearly surveys throughout the duration of their participation in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational study, a multicenter study from 1993 to 2005. They found:

• Throughout 11.9 years (median follow-up), there were 9,195 (16.3%) cases of NMSC and 518 (0.92%) cases of MM.

• Compared with the reference group (women with low childhood and low adulthood UV), women with low childhood and high adulthood UV had a 21% increased risk of NMSC.

• Women with high childhood and high adulthood UV had a 19% increased risk of NMSC.

• Women with high childhood UV and low adulthood UV did not have a significant increase in NMSC risk compared with the reference group in multivariable models.

• Residential UV exposure in childhood to adulthood was not associated with increased melanoma risk.

Citation: Ransohoff KJ, Ally MS, Stefanick ML, et al. Impact of residential UV exposure in childhood versus adulthood on skin cancer risk in Caucasian, postmenopausal women in the Women’s Health Initiative. [Published online ahead of print May 6, 2016]. Cancer Causes Control. doi:10.1007/s10552-016-0730-9.