Don Smith

Did the studies claiming that only a few indoor tanning sessions per year eliminate the "confounding" factor of alcohol consumption, especially in women consuming more than 7 drinks per week? Not that I could determine from a quick scan of the studies.

Please note that the RR between alcohol consumption and CMM was 1.64, almost exactly what was claimed for indoor tanning and CMM.

The "bottom line" is that this article proves that we still do not know what factor(s) cause CMM.

Cancer Causes Control. 2013 Oct 31. [Epub ahead of print]

Alcohol consumption and risk of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer in the Women's Health Initiative.

Kubo JT, Henderson MT, Desai M, Wactawski-Wende J, Stefanick ML, Tang JY.

Source

Quantitative Sciences Unit, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 1070 Arastradero Road #3C03A, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA, jkubo@stanford.edu.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

The relationship between alcohol consumption and preference of alcohol type with hazard of melanoma (MM) and risk of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) was examined in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study (OS).

METHODS:

A prospective cohort of 59,575 White postmenopausal women in the WHI OS (mean age 63.6) was analyzed. Cox proportional hazards models and logistic regression techniques were used to assess the hazard and risk of physician-adjudicated MM and self-reported NMSC, respectively, after adjusting for potential confounders including measures of sun exposure and skin type.

RESULTS:

Over 10.2 mean years of follow-up, 532 MM cases and 9,593 NMSC cases occurred. A significant relationship between amount of alcohol consumed and both MM and NMSC was observed, with those who consume 7+ drinks per week having a higher hazard of MM (HR 1.64 (1.09, 2.49), p global = 0.0013) and higher risk of NMSC (OR 1.23 (1.11, 1.36), p global < 0.0001) compared to non-drinkers. Lifetime alcohol consumption was also positively associated with hazard of MM (p = 0.0011) and risk of NMSC (p < 0.0001). Further, compared to non-drinkers, a preference for either white wine or liquor was associated with an increased hazard of MM (HR 1.52 (1.02, 2.27) for white wine; HR 1.65 (1.07, 2.55) for liquor) and risk of NMSC (OR 1.16 (1.05, 1.28) for white wine; OR 1.26 (1.13, 1.41) for liquor).

CONCLUSIONS:

Higher current alcohol consumption, higher lifetime alcohol consumption, and a preference for white wine or liquor were associated with increased hazard of MM and risk of NMSC.