New Haven, Conn. — New research suggests that the use of tanning beds, already linked to increased risk of melanoma in users, also increases the odds of developing basal cell carcinoma for young people, Reuters reports.
Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health interviewed 750 people younger than 40 to tabulate the type of tanning beds used, for how long and how often, any burns that resulted, and the age at which tanners first used the beds. Investigators found that young people who use the beds had a 69 percent increased chance of suffering from early-onset BCC.
The risks increased with the number of years the tanning beds had been used.
Reuters quotes lead author Susan T. Mayne, Ph.D., as saying, “Indoor tanning was strikingly common in our study of young skin cancer patients, especially in the women, which may partially explain why 70 percent of early-onset BCCs are in females. We were also surprised to find that one-third of our study participants with BCC had already had at least one additional BCC before age 40, which is very alarming, as skin cancers increase in frequency in age.”
The findings support earlier research showing that people who used tanning beds, regardless of type or for how long, were 74 percent more likely to develop melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer.
Cases of melanoma have been rising for the past three decades, with more than 70,230 new cases diagnosed this year, according to the American Cancer Society. BCC diagnoses also are on the rise.
BCCs, too, are likely to be cured if detected and treated early.
Reuters quotes co-author Leah M. Ferrucci, Ph.D., as saying, “Importantly, indoor tanning is a behavior that individuals can change. In conjunction with the findings on melanoma, our results for BCC indicate that reducing indoor tanning could translate to a meaningful reduction in the incidence of these two types of skin cancer.”
The study was reported on in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
