HILTON HEAD, S.C., Jun 05 (Reuters Health) - Worldwide, men get the deadly
skin cancer melanoma more often, and are more likely to die from it, but young
women may catch up, thanks to their affinity for tanning salons, a researcher
reported here Sunday.
Exposure to sunlamps or sunbeds was listed as having a potential association
with melanoma by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in its most recent
report on cancer-causing materials, issued in early May.
And, the NIH said solar radiation is a definite carcinogen, and tanning beds
expose users to the same rays that are beamed down by the sun, said Dr.
Marie-France Demierre of Boston University Medical School in Massachusetts.
She said she expects a potential epidemic of melanoma in women, citing
statistics from the study showing that 71% of tanning bed users aged 16 to 29
were female. And, said Demierre, most sun damage occurs before age 20, when
people deny the dangers and the skin is most vulnerable.
It is alarming because melanoma tends to strike young, robbing people of
their productive years, said Demierre, who spoke at the Eighth Annual Congress
on Women's Health & Gender-Based Medicine.
This year, the American Cancer Society estimates there will be 47,700 new
cases of melanoma in America, with 7,700 deaths.
If Demierre is right and more women get melanoma, there would be a reversal
of the current melanoma patterns, where men get the cancer more often. And, it
is usually diagnosed later in men as well.
Studies from North America show that over the last 20 years, 75% of the
melanoma diagnosed in men was at a very late stage, when the disease had spread,
said Demierre. Thus, they are more likely to die from the disease.
It is not clear why men get more melanoma and are diagnosed later. But, said
Demierre, studies have shown that men typically are reluctant to go to the
doctor, and that they are not as aware of melanoma risk as women, and are less
likely to seek free screening for the disease.
Some scientists have guessed that estrogen might help protect women from
melanoma, or that the male chromosome might somehow make men more susceptible to
the invading cancer cells. These theories are still being researched.
But, Demierre suggested, women might unwittingly be destroying their natural
advantage through what she called "tanning bed addiction" and sun worship.
