MONDAY July 14, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study published in Journal of Investigative Dermatology advance online publication, 10 July 2008 suggests that intermittent sun exposure overseas among young white women living in temperate climates is related to risk of melanoma.

The number of melanocytic nevi is a strong indicator for the risk of melanoma in whites. But how sun exposure overseas would affect melanocytic nevi remained unclear until the current study.

Dos Santos Silva I from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK and colleagues looked at data for 754 white English women age 18 to 46 in 1997 - 2000 to examine any possible association between ultraviolet exposures and the number of nevi and atypical nevi as well as skin aging.

They found women who have ever holidayed in hotter countries had a greater age- and phenotype-adjusted mean number of whole-body nevi, a 74 percent increase compared to those who did not have the same experience. This means that those who had sun exposure overseas would have a higher risk of melanoma.

The association was particularly significant among those who spent their holidays at ages 18 to 29 and for the counts of the truck and low limbs.

There was no association between overseas exposure and nevus counts except that the number of atypical nevi was inversely correlated with sun exposure overseas.   Skin aging was not associated with residence or holidays abroad.

"The association of holidays overseas with an increased nevus count in young white women, which was stronger in the anatomical sites intermittently exposed to sunlight, supports the hypothesis that intermittent sun exposure is of relevance in the etiology of nevi and, hence, melanoma," the researchers concluded.

Source:

Journal of Investigative Dermatology advance online publication, 10 July 2008

Overseas Sun Exposure, Nevus Counts, and Premature Skin Aging in Young English Women: A Population-Based Survey.

Dos Santos Silva I, Higgins CD, Abramsky T, Swanwick MA, Frazer J, Whitaker LM, Blanshard ME, Bradshaw J, Apps JM, Bishop DT, Newton-Bishop JA, Swerdlow AJ.

1Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.