Elsevier

Preventive Medicine

Volume 9, Issue 2, March 1980, Pages 227-230
Preventive Medicine

Assessment of risk factor
Ultraviolet radiation and skin cancer in man

https://doi.org/10.1016/0091-7435(80)90080-8Get rights and content

Abstract

Skin cancers are the most common malignant tumors of white-skinned people. It is well established that nonmelanoma skin cancer is almost entirely caused by chronic exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (uvr), and malignant melanoma is strongly related to ultraviolet radiation exposure. In the U.S.A., 300,000–400,000 new skin cancers develop per year, almost all of which are preventable. About 5,000 deaths per year are due to nonmelanoma skin cancer, and a similar number are due to malignant melanoma. Reducing outdoor exposure during the 2 hr between 11 am and 1 pm will prevent 50% of the daily carcinogenic uvr dose from reaching the skin. Most of the skin cancers occur in a small proportion of the population (particularly Irish, Scottish, and Welsh) who are genetically predisposed to sunburning and who suntan little. Anthropogenic disturbance of the stratospheric ozone layer by aircraft exhaust and chlorofluorocarbons may result in a significant increase in solar uvr reaching earth and may cause an increase of 60% or more in skin cancer incidence early in the next century.

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Presented at the American Health Foundation/Deutsche Krebshilfe Conference on the Primary Prevention of Cancer: Assessment of Risk Factors and Future Directions, N.Y., N.Y., June 7–8, 1979.

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