Research led by Swansea University shows an inverse relationship between smoking and melanoma in a UK population.
Using data from the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (WCISU), the population-based case-control study identified 9636 melanoma cases during 2000-2015. Smoking data were obtained for 7124 (73.9%) of these patients.
The study, published in the British Journal of Dermatology, showed smoking was inversely associated with melanoma incidence (odds ratio [OR], 0.70; 95% CI, 0.65-0.76). Smoking was associated with increased overall mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.30; 95% CI, 1.09-1.55) but was not associated with melanoma-specific mortality.
Higher socioeconomic populations were more likely to develop the disease (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.44-1.73). However, patients with higher socioeconomic status also had increased overall (HR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.56-0.81) and disease-specific (HR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.53-0.90) survival.
This is the largest study to date indicating that smoking has an inverse relationship with the risk of developing melanoma. The authors say further work is required to uncover the mechanism underlying this relationship. If a biological association is identified, this could lead to the development of novel prevention and treatment options, opening a new wave of medical therapy for melanoma, they say.
