Study links indoor tanning to most serious type of skin cancer

Indoor tanning is known to increase the risk of some types of skin cancer. But a new study convincingly links ultraviolet radiation from tanning devices to the most deadly form of the disease: melanoma.

Researchers at Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota studied 2,268 Minnesota residents, of which 1,167 had been diagnosed with melanoma. The other study participants had no cancer diagnosis. They found people who used any type of tanning bed for any amount of time were 74% more likely to develop melanoma. Just under 63% of the people with melanoma said they had tanned indoors compared with 51.1% of the control group. People who used tanning beds frequently were up to three times more likely to develop the disease compared with people who never used tanning devices. Frequent use was defined as using indoor tanning for 50 hours or more, or 10 years or more, or 100 sessions or more.

"We found it didn't matter the type of tanning device used; there was no safe tanning device," the lead author of the study, DeAnn Lazovich, said in a news release. "We also found -- and this is new data -- that the risk of gettng melanoma is associated more with how much a person tans and not the age at which a person starts using tanning devices. Risk rises with frequency of use, regardless of age, gender or device."

The study was published Thursday in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: Rob Gauthier  /  Los Angeles Times

Skin cancer risk may not scare indoor tanners; unattractiveness apparently does

"Tanning is bad for you." "Tanning will make you look bad." The first message hasn't been very effective at deterring use of tanning salons. Perhaps the latter is the way to go.

It certainly seemed to curb tanners' enthusiasm in a study published Monday in Archives of Dermatology. The message was so effective, in fact, that it even reduced the intention to tan among people who got their doses of UV radiation for mood-enhancing, not appearance-enhancing, purposes.

In a study of 430 indoor tanners, all young women, researchers offered half of the participants a booklet explaining radiation's effects on the skin, plus ways to look good without that so-called healthy glow. (Exercise, sunless tanning products and clothing that doesn't rely on a tan for best effect ... in case you were wondering.)

They conclude:

"... Appearance-focused interventions, when grounded in strong theoretical models that have been empirically verified, can have robust, clinically significant effects on UV risk behaviors even in subpopulations with strong nonappearance tanning motives."

That is to say, everyone wants to look better.

Here's the abstract of the indoor-tanning study.

And here's a fact sheet on indoor tanning from the American Academy of Dermatology, plus information from the Food and Drug Administration on tanning's effects. Note that the information is provided under "radiation-emitting products." 

It states, in part:

"A recent report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, (IARC), part of the World Health Organization, concludes that tanning devices are more dangerous than previously thought. Exposure to UV radiation, whether from the sun or indoor tanning beds, can cause:

- Skin cancer

- Skin burns

- Premature skin aging

- Eye damage (both short- and long-term)

For these purposes, I suppose, focus on the third one.

After all, the researchers in the current study prefaced their findings with this background:

"Indoor tanning is a growing concern for health professionals, with prospective, case-controlled, and laboratory studies pointing toward an association of youthful indoor tanning with melanoma and nonmelanoma carcinoma.... [And yet] indoor tanning remains particularly attractive to youth, with recent national surveys reporting approximately 10% of those younger than 15 years and 25% to 40% of older adolescent females using sunbeds."

-- Tami Dennis

Photo credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

For a healthy glow, avoid the tan

Do you think people look healthier and more attractive with a tan? If so, you’re not alone, according to a survey released Monday by the American Academy of Dermatology.

However, you’d also be wrong.

The survey found that 72% of respondents find tanned skin more attractive than pale skin, while 66% said a tan provides a healthy glow. In addition, 60% were under the mistaken impression that sun exposure is good for one’s health.

Those attitudes may help explain why skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States. So might these other common misconceptions about tanning:

• 37% mistakenly believe that indoor tanning beds are safer than outdoor sun exposure
• 40% aren’t aware that burns and tans during childhood are linked to skin cancer in adults
• 52% think a base tan protects the skin from further sun exposure, even though it doesn’t
• 65% don’t realize that all UV rays are harmful for skin

For more on the survey, check out this fact sheet on tanning. The Academy also has this useful resource to help people distinguish normal moles from early signs of skin cancer. Tips for conducting a skin cancer self-exam are available here.

-- Karen Kaplan

Photo: If you think this looks like a healthy activity, think again. Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

States are cracking down on indoor tanning practices

As many as a third of college-age people who use indoor tanning beds or booths show signs of being addicted to the behavior, according to a study reported Tuesday in the Los Angeles Times. These people know that ultraviolet light is harmful, increasing the risk of skin cancer. Yet they continue to tan excessively -- some as much as 100 times a year. Researchers say that excessive exposure to UV light may activate parts of the brain involved in substance abuse.

The cancer risk and overuse of tanning salons has not escaped the attention of lawmakers. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 32 states regulate indoor tanning salons, such as by banning tanning among people younger than 14 or requiring parental permission for people younger than 18.

Those restrictions are likely to get tighter. Last month, an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration recommended rules requiring teenagers to have parental permission to visit a salon and making health warnings on tanning beds and booths more noticeable.

More than 20 states have introduced legislation this year. Florida, for example, has proposed prohibiting tanning for people younger than 16 and requiring parental consent for people younger than 18, with the parent specifying exactly how many tanning sessions would be permitted in a given year. Hawaii's proposed legislation would ban tanning to people younger than 18 and require proof-of-age identification for everyone else.

The Indoor Tanning Assn. said in a recent statement that U.S. tanning industry practices are already sufficiently protective of consumer health and safety and any decisions on government restrictions should be based "on sound science and fact."

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: Seth Wenig / Associated Press

Skin cancer has become an 'epidemic' in the U.S., researchers say

Non-melanoma skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the U.S. But just how common is it? According to a new estimate, more than 2.1 million Americans were treated for 3.5 million cases of the cancers in 2006.

Since cases of non-melanoma skin cancer usually aren’t reported to cancer registries, experts must rely on estimates. Until this week, the most recent national estimate had been from 1994 – back then, researchers pegged the number of cancers at 900,000 to 1.2 million per year.

To reach the new figure, researchers used two Medicare databases to tally the number of skin cancer procedures performed on patients covered by the government health plan. Then they used national survey data to extrapolate those figures to the entire U.S. population.

The results indicate that the incidence of skin cancer is “about double” what it was in 1994, the researchers wrote in Archives of Dermatology. Not only are more people getting non-melanoma skin cancer, but the number of procedures per patient is rising too. “There is an epidemic of [non-melanoma skin cancer] in the United States,” according to the report.

This type of skin cancer usually isn’t deadly if found early, but the toll is still significant. The American Academy of Dermatology says that treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer cost $1.5 billion in 2004.

The researchers didn’t say why they thought the rates were rising so fast – perhaps the rise of tanning salons is partly to blame. They did note that “educational programs emphasizing sun protection have mainly been disappointing in slowing skin cancer rates.” Of course, they conclude that more research is needed.

-- Karen Kaplan

Photo: These sunbathers may be helping to drive the skin cancer “epidemic” in the U.S. Photo credit: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

Women's health priorities: sleep, relax, drink water, exercise, before sex

The magazine Cooking Light has found that when it comes to getting and staying healthy, women have the burner turned down pretty low on getting "enough sex." Finding time to exercise was hardly at the top of their list, either.

In an online survey, 1,020 randomly selected women over 25 were asked to rate their priorities in terms of health and well-being. The results: Right up there at the top was getting enough sleep--the other activity often conducted between the sheets. Keeping stress levels low, finding time to relax, eating healthfully, drinking the recommended amount of water: respondents listed these priorities, respectively, as their top five priorities for their personal health.

Where did they rank "having enough sex"? Right there, in seventh place, behind "finding time to exercise."

Perhaps the women respondents didn't value "having enough sex" because there are no guidelines issued by medical specialty groups or the federal government recommending target levels of sexual activity for Americans. After all, there are recommendations for women's top priority, sleep, as well as for nutritional intake, daily water consumption and exercise. There are, however, no specific consensus guidelines for maintaining a healthy stress level, or recommendations concerning time spent relaxing, women's priorities two and three.

Go figure!

In other findings, the Cooking Light survey found that women would rather be seen as healthy than trendy, wealthy, powerful, beautiful, sexy or successful. The only quality they esteemed higher than healthy was smart. Most women say they look younger (69%) and feel younger (58%) than they are. And majorities say their self-confidence is influenced by their appearance (74%) and their overall health and wellness (72%).

-- Melissa Healy

Moisturizers are linked to skin cancer in mice

A new study has found a link between several popular moisturizers and non-melanoma skin cancer in mice. But it's too early to tell if this is another needless public health scare or if, indeed, the substances in at least some creams can do more harm than good.

Scientists from Rutgers University applied four skin creams to hairless mice that were at high risk for developing skin cancer anyway. Tumor formation increased 69% in the mice that had been moisturized once a day, five days a week for 17 weeks. The creams used in the study included Dermabase, Dermovan, Eucerin and Vanicream.

The authors of the study, which was published online today in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, say they can't conclude that moisturizers cause skin cancers in humans. But, according to a story by the Associated Press, lead author Allan Conney said the study raises important questions.

"I think it raises a red flag indicating that there's a need to determine whether or not these products could cause this problem in people."

The AP story on the study also quoted several leading dermatologists who cast doubt on the association.

"The components in moisturizers are tested. There's no evidence for this being a problem in humans, " said Dr. Steven Feldman, professor of dermatology at Wake Forest University.

Moisturizers are not sunscreens, and studies have shown that using sunscreen helps prevent skin cancer. At least we can be sure of that.

-- Shari Roan

McCain needs frequent checks for skin cancer

If you look at pictures taken over the years, presumed Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona is frequently photographed with a bandage on his face. And that's unlikely to change. A long-term skin cancer survivor, McCain was spotted today with a bandage on his right cheek, which he said was from a biopsy performed by his dermatologist this morning. The Los Angeles Times reported that McCain said he was fine and that the biopsy was routine.

McCain was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 1993 and has had four cancerous lesions removed since then. Compared with people in the general population, patients diagnosed with melanoma have a much higher rate of developing additional melanomas in the future. For that reason, many melanoma survivors see a skin doctor for check-ups every few months.

McCain is at high risk for future melanomas because of his history. Melanomas on the face are not as lethal as those found on the neck or scalp, according to a recent study. Men, however, have a lower survival rate than women.

The American Cancer Society has more information on melanoma diagnosis and treatment.

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: AP/Eric Draper. This photo was taken of McCain after a biopsy in 2000.