DOI: 10.1200/jco.2006.06.1325. Anatomic Site, Sun Exposure, and Risk of Cutaneous Melanoma

Anatomic Site, Sun Exposure, and Risk of Cutaneous Melanoma

10.1200/jco.2006.06.1325

Crossref journal-article

American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)

Journal of Clinical Oncology (233)

Abstract

Purpose Sunlight is the principal environmental risk factor for cutaneous melanoma. A current hypothesis postulates that the role of sunlight in causing melanoma differs according to anatomic site. We tested this hypothesis in a population-based case-case comparative study of melanoma patients. Methods Patients were sampled from the Queensland cancer registry in three groups: superficial spreading or nodular melanomas of the trunk (n = 154), of the head and neck (HN; n = 76), and lentigo maligna (LM) and lentigo maligna melanoma (LMM; for both LM and LMM, n = 76). Data were collected on school-age sun exposure and occupational and recreational sun exposure in adulthood. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% CIs were calculated using polytomous logistic regression. Results HN melanoma patients were substantially more likely than trunk patients to have higher levels of sun exposure in adulthood (OR, 2.43; 95% CI, 0.98 to 5.99) and specifically, higher levels of occupational exposure (OR, 3.25; 95% CI, 1.32 to 8.00), but lower levels of recreational sun exposure (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.21 to 1.19). LM and LMM patients reported higher occupational exposure and lower recreational sun exposure than trunk melanoma patients, although this was not significant. We found no significant differences between the groups for school-age sun exposures. Conclusion Melanomas developing at different body sites are associated with distinct patterns of sun exposure. Melanomas of the head and neck are associated with chronic patterns of sun exposure whereas trunk melanomas are associated with intermittent patterns of sun exposure, supporting the hypothesis that melanomas may arise through divergent causal pathways.

Bibliography

Whiteman, D. C., Stickley, M., Watt, P., Hughes, M. C., Davis, M. B., & Green, A. C. (2006). Anatomic Site, Sun Exposure, and Risk of Cutaneous Melanoma. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 24(19), 3172â3177.

Authors 6

David C. Whiteman (first)
Mark Stickley (additional)
Peter Watt (additional)
Maria Celia Hughes (additional)
Marcia B. Davis (additional)
Adèle C. Green (additional)

References 29 Referenced 160

10.1016/S1011-1344(01)00198-1
Armstrong BK: How sun exposure causes skin cancer: An epidemiological perspective, in Hill D, Elwood JM, English DR (eds): Prevention of Skin Cancer: Cancer Prevention, Cancer Causes . Boston, MA, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004 (10.1007/978-94-017-0511-0_6)
10.1002/(SICI)1097-0215(19971009)73:2<198::AID-IJC6>3.0.CO;2-R
10.1002/(SICI)1097-0215(19980911)77:6<843::AID-IJC8>3.0.CO;2-U
10.1093/jnci/95.11.806
10.1002/(SICI)1097-0215(19980925)78:1<8::AID-IJC2>3.0.CO;2-U
10.1093/jnci/djg127
10.1093/jnci/djg123
10.1056/NEJMoa050092
10.1016/S0140-6736(04)15649-3
10.1002/ijc.2910250113
10.1016/S0046-8177(80)80069-4
10.1007/BF00052747
10.1016/S0190-9622(99)70436-6
10.1002/(SICI)1097-0215(19981029)78:3<276::AID-IJC2>3.0.CO;2-S
10.1038/bjc.1981.288
10.1038/bjc.1986.80
10.1097/00043764-199509000-00015
10.1097/00001648-200109000-00015
10.1016/0190-9622(95)90282-1
10.1111/j.1524-4725.1988.tb03588.x
English DR, Armstrong BK, Kricker A: Reproducibility of reported measurements of sun exposure in a case-control study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 7:857,1998-863,
Holman CD, Armstrong BK, Heenan PJ: A theory of the etiology and pathogenesis of human cutaneous malignant melanoma. J Natl Cancer Inst 71:651,1983-656,
10.1056/NEJM199904293401707
10.1016/j.ejca.2004.10.016
10.1016/S0046-8177(84)80310-X
10.1111/j.1600-0749.1994.tb00035.x
Silvers WK, Mintz B: Differences in latency and inducibility of mouse skin melanomas depending on the age and anatomic site of the skin. Cancer Res 58:630,1998-632,
10.1002/(SICI)1097-0215(20000301)85:5<627::AID-IJC5>3.0.CO;2-Y

Dates

Type	When
Created	19 years, 2 months ago (June 30, 2006, 9:24 a.m.)
Deposited	3 years, 3 months ago (May 25, 2022, 5:25 p.m.)
Indexed	1 week, 3 days ago (Aug. 20, 2025, 9:15 a.m.)
Issued	19 years, 1 month ago (July 1, 2006)
Published	19 years, 1 month ago (July 1, 2006)
Published Print	19 years, 1 month ago (July 1, 2006)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Whiteman_2006, title={Anatomic Site, Sun Exposure, and Risk of Cutaneous Melanoma}, volume={24}, ISSN={1527-7755}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2006.06.1325}, DOI={10.1200/jco.2006.06.1325}, number={19}, journal={Journal of Clinical Oncology}, publisher={American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)}, author={Whiteman, David C. and Stickley, Mark and Watt, Peter and Hughes, Maria Celia and Davis, Marcia B. and Green, Adèle C.}, year={2006}, month=jul, pages={3172–3177} }

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