Effect of intermittent exposure to sunlight on melanoma risk among indoor workers and sun-sensitive individuals.

Intermittent exposure to sunlight is considered to be an important risk factor for melanoma, but the associations reported in most case-control studies are surprisingly weak. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the incorporation of a subject's background exposure to the sun and pigmen...

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Main Authors:	Nelemans, P J, Groenendal, H, Kiemeney, L A, Rampen, F H, Ruiter, D J, Verbeek, A L
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	1993
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1519778/

id	pubmed-1519778
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-15197782006-07-26 Effect of intermittent exposure to sunlight on melanoma risk among indoor workers and sun-sensitive individuals. Nelemans, P J Groenendal, H Kiemeney, L A Rampen, F H Ruiter, D J Verbeek, A L Research Article Intermittent exposure to sunlight is considered to be an important risk factor for melanoma, but the associations reported in most case-control studies are surprisingly weak. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the incorporation of a subject's background exposure to the sun and pigmentation characteristics (which are assumed to influence a person's susceptibility to sunlight exposure) could produce stronger associations between sunlight exposure and the risk for melanoma. A population-based case-control study was performed in the mid-eastern part of the Netherlands. The study group comprised 141 patients with a histologically verified melanoma and 183 controls with other malignancies who were registered by the same cancer registry. Patients with a lentigo maligna melanoma or an acrolentiginous melanoma were excluded. Information was collected by interviews and physical examination. We categorized subjects as indoor or outdoor workers on the basis of occupational exposure to the sun. Pigmentation characteristics, which are known to be risk indicators for cutaneous melanoma, were summarized as one sun sensitivity score. We used this score to distinguish between sun-sensitive and sun-resistant persons. The odds ratios associated with sunbathing, vacations spent in sunny countries, and sunburns were higher among the indoor workers than among the outdoor workers. After stratification by the sun sensitivity score, the effect of sunbathing, participating in water sports (swimming excluded), vacations to sunny countries, and a history of sunburn was largest for the sun-sensitive persons. The data show a general trend toward higher relative risks among indoor workers and sun-sensitive individuals. The results of this study support the intermittent sunlight hypothesis. 1993-08 /pmc/articles/PMC1519778/ /pubmed/8404764 Text en
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Nelemans, P J Groenendal, H Kiemeney, L A Rampen, F H Ruiter, D J Verbeek, A L
spellingShingle	Nelemans, P J Groenendal, H Kiemeney, L A Rampen, F H Ruiter, D J Verbeek, A L Effect of intermittent exposure to sunlight on melanoma risk among indoor workers and sun-sensitive individuals.
author_facet	Nelemans, P J Groenendal, H Kiemeney, L A Rampen, F H Ruiter, D J Verbeek, A L
author_sort	Nelemans, P J
title	Effect of intermittent exposure to sunlight on melanoma risk among indoor workers and sun-sensitive individuals.
title_short	Effect of intermittent exposure to sunlight on melanoma risk among indoor workers and sun-sensitive individuals.
title_full	Effect of intermittent exposure to sunlight on melanoma risk among indoor workers and sun-sensitive individuals.
title_fullStr	Effect of intermittent exposure to sunlight on melanoma risk among indoor workers and sun-sensitive individuals.
title_full_unstemmed	Effect of intermittent exposure to sunlight on melanoma risk among indoor workers and sun-sensitive individuals.
title_sort	effect of intermittent exposure to sunlight on melanoma risk among indoor workers and sun-sensitive individuals.
description	Intermittent exposure to sunlight is considered to be an important risk factor for melanoma, but the associations reported in most case-control studies are surprisingly weak. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the incorporation of a subject's background exposure to the sun and pigmentation characteristics (which are assumed to influence a person's susceptibility to sunlight exposure) could produce stronger associations between sunlight exposure and the risk for melanoma. A population-based case-control study was performed in the mid-eastern part of the Netherlands. The study group comprised 141 patients with a histologically verified melanoma and 183 controls with other malignancies who were registered by the same cancer registry. Patients with a lentigo maligna melanoma or an acrolentiginous melanoma were excluded. Information was collected by interviews and physical examination. We categorized subjects as indoor or outdoor workers on the basis of occupational exposure to the sun. Pigmentation characteristics, which are known to be risk indicators for cutaneous melanoma, were summarized as one sun sensitivity score. We used this score to distinguish between sun-sensitive and sun-resistant persons. The odds ratios associated with sunbathing, vacations spent in sunny countries, and sunburns were higher among the indoor workers than among the outdoor workers. After stratification by the sun sensitivity score, the effect of sunbathing, participating in water sports (swimming excluded), vacations to sunny countries, and a history of sunburn was largest for the sun-sensitive persons. The data show a general trend toward higher relative risks among indoor workers and sun-sensitive individuals. The results of this study support the intermittent sunlight hypothesis.
publishDate	1993
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1519778/
_version_	1611385359100280832

Effect of intermittent exposure to sunlight on melanoma risk among indoor workers and sun-sensitive individuals.

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