The effect of reproductive history on the risk of cervical, colorectal and thyroid cancers and melanoma has been explored but the results to date are inconsistent. We aimed to examine in a record-linkage cohort study the risk of developing these cancers, as well as breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers, among mothers who had given birth to twins compared with those who had only singleton pregnancies. Women who delivered a baby in Sweden between 1961 and 1996 and who were 15 years or younger in 1961 were selected from the Swedish civil birth register and linked with the Swedish cancer registry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn a Danish population, basal cell carcinoma (BCC) patients have a higher dermal mast cell prevalence in buttock skin than controls. This finding was supported by a functional link in mice between histamine-staining dermal mast cells and the extent of susceptibility to UV-B-induced systemic immunomodulation. It was important to confirm that this association was maintained in an Australian population with very different ancestry and sun exposure patterns.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Solar keratoses (SKs) are among the strongest determinants of skin cancer, but little is known about the success of measures to control these common skin tumors.
Objective: To determine whether daily sunscreen application and/or beta carotene supplementation retards the rate of occurrence of SKs in adults in the medium term.
Design: Randomized controlled trial conducted between February 1992 and August 1996.
Background: Although melanocytic nevi are the strongest known risk factors for melanoma, their etiology is not well understood.
Objectives: This study was performed to assess the roles of constitutional pigmentary factors and sun exposure in the development of new nevi in adolescents.
Methods: A cohort of 111 school children, aged 12 and 13 years at baseline, were followed up for 5 years.
All melanocytic nevi on the faces and necks of a cohort of students, initially aged 12-14 y, were mapped and photographed annually for 4 y. The features of each nevus were charted yearly noting changes in size and profile, and the appearance or disappearance of any nevi on a student's face and neck was recorded. Nevi were classified by size (small, < 2 mm; medium, 2-5 mm; large, > 5 mm), and by profile (flat, raised).
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