A cohort study of personal and family history of skin cancer in relation to future risk of non-cutaneous malignancies.

PURPOSE

Skin cancer has repeatedly been observed to be a marker of increased risk for developing an internal malignancy. The purpose of our study was to further investigate this association while also characterizing the potential role of family history of skin cancer in relation to risk for non-cutaneous malignancies.

METHODS

Our study used data from 8,408 participants from the NHANES I epidemiological follow-up study. Cox-proportional hazards models were used to estimate the risk for developing an internal cancer associated with a personal history and family history of skin cancer during follow-up.

RESULTS

A personal history of skin cancer was associated with significantly increased risk of developing an internal cancer in adjusted models [hazard ratio (HR) 1.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09-1.61] but a family history of skin cancer was not associated with increased risk (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.58-1.11).

CONCLUSIONS

Consistent with prior reports, a personal history of skin cancer was associated with increase of developing internal malignancies, but this did not hold true for a family history of skin cancer. Further research is needed to understand why a personal history of skin cancer acts as a marker for increased risk for internal cancer.