Melanoma risk and residence in sunny areas

Abstract

Summary Melanoma risk among subjects from Germany, France and Belgium who had lived for 1 year or more in sunny climates was examined in a one-to-one unmatched case-control study conducted among white subjects 20 years old or more. A total of 412 consecutive patients with melanoma diagnosed from 1 January 1991 onwards, were derived from hospital registers; 445 controls were randomly chosen in the same municipality as the cases. After adjustment for host characteristics, melanoma risk associated with residence in a sunny area was 2.7 (95% Cl: 1.4-5.2), increasing to 4.7 (95% Cl: 1.4-13.5) if subjects sought a suntan when residing in sunny climates, and to 4.3 (95% Cl: 1.7-11.1) if subjects arrived before the age of 10 years in the sunny area. Residence in sunny areas and recreational sun exposure seemed to combine their effects on melanoma risk. Increase in melanoma risk conveyed by deliberate sun exposure during adulthood was highest among subjects who had lived in sunny areas as a child or adolescent and lowest among subjects who had never resided in sunny areas. Our results support conclusions from migrant studies that indicated that childhood is a critical period of either vulnerability to solar radiation or more frequent exposures to melanoma risk factors. They also suggest that moderate sun exposure of an adult who was heavily sun exposed in childhood is associated with a higher melanoma risk than that of high sun exposure of an adult who was sun protected in childhood.

Cutaneous malignant melanoma in children and adolescents in Sweden, 1993–2002: The increasing trend is broken

“…Furthermore, sun exposure in childhood has been implicated to be of special importance for future melanoma risk, even if sun exposure during adulthood also is of significance. 23,24 The decline in melanoma incidence also in the middle-aged population lends support to the idea that UV radiation not only is involved in melanoma initiation, but also during tumor promotion and progression. 25 The still increasing incidence in the older population might also reflect a greater importance of cumulative sun exposure in melanoma genesis at older ages, as suggested by the divergent pathway hypothesis.…”

Country of origin, age at migration and risk of cutaneous melanoma: A migrant cohort study of 1,100,000 Israeli men

“…22,23 Similar findings were found in a case-control study involving European patients among whom arrival before age of 10 years to a sunny location of residence (such as the Mediterranean) conferred a fourfold increased risk of developing melanoma. 24 However, a previous systematic review considered case-control studies to constitute of lower-quality evidence due to the inherent difficulties of measuring historical sun exposure. 9 Earlier studies in Israel reported a onethird lower risk among European migrants to Israel compared to Israeli-born Jews.…”

The forthcoming inexorable decline of cutaneous melanoma mortality in light-skinned populations

“…For instance, migrant studies have documented that the risk of melanoma occurrence or of death is two to three times greater among light-skinned subjects born in Australia than among subjects of European descent who migrated to Australia after 15 years [31,32]. Melanoma risk in adult life seems to be low in the absence of sun exposure during childhood [33,34]. Animal experiments have shown that susceptibility to UVinduction of melanoma is greatest just after birth [35][36][37].…”