Sunscreens and cutaneous malignant melanoma: An Italian case-control study

The possible relation between use of sunscreens and the risk of cutaneous m alignant melanoma (CMM) was investigated in a case-control study conducted in 27 Italian centres on 542 incident, histologically confirmed cases and 5 38 controls admitted for acute, other than neoplastic or dermatologic condi tions. Compared with subjects reporting never sunscreen use, the multivaria te odds ratios (OR), after allowance for age, sex, geographic area, educati on, skin, eye and hair colour, freckles, number of naevi, history of sunbur ns, tanning pattern and duration of sunny vacations, were 0.97 (95% confide nce interval [CI] 0.69 to 1.35) for those reporting "sometimes" and 0.80 (9 5% CI 0.54 to 1.17) for those reporting "often" sunscreen use. With referen ce to type of product most frequently used, the ORs were 0.96 (95% CI 0.52 to 1.77) for minimal, 0.90 (95% CI 0.63 to 1.28) for moderate and 1.41 (95% CI 0.85 to 2.35) for high sunburn protection factor. With reference to dur ation of use, the OR was 0.86 (95% CI 0.58 to 1.29) for use started since g reater than or equal to 20 years. None of the corresponding trends in risks were significant. The ORs for sunscreen use were similar across strata of major identified covariates and, if anything, tended to decline after multi variate analysis. The present findings confirm that sunscreen use, as curre ntly adopted in Italy, is not appreciably related to subsequent CMM risk. I nt. J. Concer 86: 879-882, 2000. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.