Sun exposure and melanoma survival: A GEM study

We sought to evaluate the hypothesis that sun exposure before diagnosis was associated with greater survival in a larger, international population-based study with more detailed exposure information. We conducted a multicenter, international population-based study in four countries--Australia, Italy, Canada, and the United States--with 3,578 cases of melanoma with an average of 7.4 years of follow-up.

Measures of sun exposure included sunburn, intermittent exposure, hours of holiday sun exposure, hours of water-related outdoor activities, ambient ultraviolet B (280–320 nm) dose, histologic solar elastosis, and season of diagnosis. Results were not strongly supportive of the earlier hypothesis. Having had any sunburn in 1 year within 10 years of diagnosis was inversely associated with survival; solar elastosis--a measure of lifetime cumulative exposure--was not.