Risk factors for basal cell carcinoma of the skin in men: Results from thehealth professionals follow-up study

The authors examined the relation of constitutional factors and sun exposur e to risk of basal cell carcinoma of the skin (BCC) in a prospective cohort of 44,591 predominantly Caucasian US male health professionals, 40-75 year s of age and free of cancer at enrollment in 1986, During 8 years of follow -up, 3,273 cases of self-reported BCC were documented, The following variab les were each associated with an elevated risk of BCC: having red hair; gre en, hazel, or blue eyes; a tendency to sunburn; and north European ancestry . The lifetime number of blistering sunburns was also positively associated with BCC risk (p trend < 0.0001), Compared with men who as teenagers had b een outside less than once a week, men who had been outside weekly (relativ e risk (RR) = 1.30; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.14, 1.47) and daily (RR = 1.42; 95% Ci: 1.24, 1.63) had an elevated risk of BCC. Living in a regio n of residence with high solar radiation as an adult was also associated wi th an increased risk of BCC (RR = 1.48; 95% CI: 1.36, 1.60), whereas living in such a region only in childhood did not increase BCC risk. These result s confirm the role of constitutional factors acid suggest that adult sun ex posure increases BCC risk.