March 21, 2011 -- Many lifestyle-related cancers
disproportionately affect the poor, but new research finds the
opposite to be true for the most lethal form of skin cancer:
melanoma. In a California study, non-Hispanic, white teens and
young women living in the most affluent neighborhoods were
nearly six times as likely to be diagnosed with melanoma as
white teens and young women living in the poorest neighborhoods.
Researchers examined socioeconomic status and neighborhood
ultraviolet (UV) radiation levels, finding that affluence had a
bigger impact on melanoma risk than UV exposure. “That was a
surprise to us,” says study co-researcher Christina A. Clarke,
PhD, MPH, of Stanford University and the Cancer Prevention
Institute of California. “We thought UV radiation exposure would
be a more important predictor of melanoma risk than
socioeconomic status, but that is not what we found.” Melanoma
is caused by sun exposure. Fair-skinned people have the highest
risk. More than 90% of all skin cancers in the U.S. oc