|
Sci Tech
Tanning lamps and skin cancer risk
USERS OF tanning lamps may have an increased incidence of skin cancers and younger users may be at greatest risk, report Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) researchers,
"The growing popularity of artificial tanning (for non medical reasons) among adolescents and young adults is cause for concern," say author Margaret R. Karagas, a DMS epidemiologist and . associate director of the Centre for Environmental Health Sciences at Dartmouth.
She published the findings in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute Few studies have looked at the association between tanning devices and the more prevalent skin cancers: basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma, which together are the most common malignancy in humans. Karagas and colleagues have previously reported an increasing trend in the incidence rates of these cancers.
"We know that ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure that comes from the sun is a major cause of skin cancer. Tanning lamps mimic sunlight and provide such an intense, concentrated dose of UVR, we would predict that people who use these devices may get skin cancers," Karagas said. "Also, tanning lamp users often get a burn like a sunburn, and sunburns are linked to the risk of all three skin cancers: basal cell, squamous cell and melanoma."
Overall, people who reported any use of tanning lamps were 2.5 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma and 1.5 times more likely to develop basal cell carcinoma than those who did not use tanning lamps, the team found.
Other factors, including past sunburns, sunbathing and sun exposure, did not appear to explain the excess risk of either type of skin cancer associated with tanning lamps.
Moreover, the risk of basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma increased with younger age at use (20 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, for each decade younger participants were when they began using a tanning device).
Sun exposure early in life also appears to play an important role in risk of skin cancer.
The use of tanning devices may contribute to the incidence rates of basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma, the researchers conclude. This was an observational study that suggests what physicians and epidemiologists expected, based on their knowledge of the relationship between sun exposure and skin cancers.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Sci Tech
|
