Associations between prostate cancer susceptibility and parameters of exposure to ultraviolet radiation

• Published in: Cancer letters 2003-10, Vol.200 (2), p.141-148
• Main Authors: Bodiwala, Dhaval, Luscombe, Christopher J, French, Michael E, Liu, Samson, Saxby, Mark F, Jones, Peter W, Fryer, Anthony A, Strange, Richard C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma - etiology; Adult sunbathing; Age; Age Factors; Antineoplastic agents; Benign prostatic hypertrophy; Biological and medical sciences; Childhood sunburning; Cumulative exposure; Disease Susceptibility; Eye Color; Hair Color; Heliotherapy; Holidays & special occasions; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Men; Mortality; Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced - etiology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Phenotype; Prostate cancer; Prostatic Hyperplasia - etiology; Prostatic Neoplasms - etiology; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; Skin - anatomy & histology; Skin type; Sunburn - complications; Sunlight; Tumors; Ultraviolet Rays - adverse effects; Vitamin D
• ISSN: 0304-3835; 1872-7980
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3835(03)00416-6

Low sunlight exposure confers increased prostate cancer risk. In a study conducted in northern England, we investigated how combinations of exposure measures affect this risk. Recursive partitioning was used to identify combinations of exposure parameters that distinguished 453 prostate cancers from 312 benign hypertrophy patients. Sunbathing score most significantly defined cancer patients; 78.7% men with low scores (≤3.0) and 40.2% men with high scores (>8.0) had cancer. These subgroups were stratified by childhood sunburning, holidays in a hot climate and skin type such that subgroups with a 13.0-fold increased risk of cancer were identified.