CUTANEOUS MALIGNANT-MELANOMA - ASSOCIATION WITH HEIGHT, WEIGHT AND BODY-SURFACE AREA - A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY IN NORWAY

To investigate whether anthropometric indices as body height, body-mas s index (BMI) and body-surface area (BSA) have any influence on the ri sk of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM), we analyzed height and weigh t data from a Norwegian screening survey running between 1963 and 1975 and comprising 1.3 million individuals followed for 14 to 26 years. A mong females, CMM was diagnosed in 2814 incident cases, while the numb er among males was 2144 during 22,988,345 person-years of follow-up. W ith adjustment for age, birth cohort, geographic region and BMI, the r isk for CMM increased significantly with increasing quintiles of heigh t in both sexes. The tallest persons were at greater relative risk tha n the shortest ones: 1.60 and 1.59 in males and females respectively. This positive association was also found for CMM localized on face and trunk in both sexes, and in the lower limbs only in females. Males in the highest quintile of BMI had a relative risk for CMM of 1.26 compa red with the lowest quintile, while a non-significant negative associa tion were found in obese females. This negative association increased and was significant for CMM located on the trunk and lower limbs in fe males. Among males we observed a consistent association between BSA an d risk of CMM similar to that for height. These relationships between anthropometric indices and CMM are discussed according to factors whic h promote growth, among which nutrition, social class and hormones are the most important. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.