Research · March 12, 2014
TAKE-HOME MESSAGE
- A meta-analysis of 31 studies found that indoor tanning increases the odds of melanoma by 16% overall (23% in North America). There is a further increased risk of developing melanoma with more than 10 tanning sessions and with using indoor tanning prior to age 25. Furthermore, there was no difference in melanoma risk before and after 2000, when the tanning industry changed to newer technology bulbs.
- It is well known that indoor tanning increases the risk of developing melanoma. Newer technology (higher pressure lamps emitting larger doses of long-wave UVA) does not appear to be safer. The information in this study is useful for patient risk assessment, education, and the development of public policy.
– Sarah Churton, MD
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND
Tanning beds are associated with increased risk of melanoma.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to update the evidence of the association of melanoma and indoor tanning focusing on frequency of use and exposure to newer tanning beds.
METHODS
We searched Scopus, MEDLINE, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature on August 14, 2013. We included all observational studies that included patients with melanoma who had indoor tanned. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were extracted and combined using generic inverse variance methods assuming a random effects model.
RESULTS
In all, 31 studies were included with data available on 14,956 melanoma cases and 233,106 controls. Compared with never using, the OR for melanoma associated with ever using indoor tanning beds was 1.16 (95% CI 1.05-1.28). Similar findings were identified in recent studies with enrollment occurring in the year 2000 onward (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.03-1.45) and in subjects attending more than 10 tanning sessions (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.05-1.71).
LIMITATIONS
The quality of evidence contributing to review results ranges from poor to mediocre.
CONCLUSION
Using tanning beds is associated with a subsequent melanoma diagnosis. Exposure from more than 10 tanning sessions is most strongly associated and there was no statistically significant difference in this association before and after 2000, suggesting that newer tanning technology is not safer than older models.
J Am Acad Dermatol 2014 Mar 12;[EPub Ahead of Print], S Colantonio, MB Bracken, J Beecker