A. Pfahlberg et al., UV-exposure during childhood and adulthood: Which period in life is more decisive for melanoma development?, SOZ PRAVENT, 45(3), 2000, pp. 119-124
The paper is devoted to the analysis of the relationship between the freque
ncy of sunburns in childhood and adulthood, respectively, and the occurrenc
e of malignant melanoma of the skin. The analysis is based on case-control
data of 603 melanoma cases and 627 population: controls from 11 participati
ng centers in seven European countries. The results confirm the increase in
melanoma risk for an increasing number of sun burns during childhood and a
dulthood in the same magnitude of risk elevation; The maximum OR for the hi
ghest exposure category of more than five sunburns was during the childhood
2.0 (95%-CI: 1.2-3.5) and during the adulthood 2.1 (95%-CI: 1.4-3.3), resp
ectively The analysis of the joint effects of sunburns during child- and ad
ulthood on melanoma development corroborated these findings. In this joint
analysis an OR of 2.1 (95%-CI: 1.3-3.5) quantifies the melanoma risk of tho
se with three or more sunburns during child- and adulthood, respectively co
mpared to those without any sunburns during these periods. The study does t
herefore provide no supporting evidence for the presence of "critical perio
d" during childhood in which a higher melanoma risk due to sunburns has bee
n suggested by other studies.