A cohort study of personal and family history of skin cancer in relation to all-cause and cancer-specific mortality
Menée aux Etats-Unis à partir de données portant sur 8 622 participants, cette étude de cohorte analyse l'association entre des antécédents personnels ou familiaux de cancer de la peau et la mortalité spécifique ou toutes causes confondues
Purpose : Even though the fatality rate from skin cancers is low, evidence from a few cohort studies has raised the possibility that people with a personal history of skin cancer may have a higher all-cause mortality rate compared with those without a personal history of skin cancer. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the potential links between a personal history or family history of skin cancer and all-cause and cancer-specific mortality Methods : A prospective cohort (n = 8,622) was assembled within the NHANES I follow-up study. Cox Proportional Hazard Regression analysis was used to estimate the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association for personal and family history of skin cancer and all-cause and cancer-specific mortality. Results : After adjustment for several potential confounding variables, a personal history of skin cancer was associated with decreased risk for all-cause mortality (HR 0.72, 95% CI 0.61–0.85), whereas the results for cancer-specific mortality were consistent with a null association (HR 0.97, 95% CI 0.74–1.27). A family history of skin cancer was not significantly associated with all-cause mortality (HR 0.97, 95% CI 0.76–1.24) or cancer-specific mortality (HR 0.69, 95% CI 0.38–1.24). Conclusion : The results of the present study do not support the hypothesis that a personal history or family history of skin cancer is associated with an increased risk of all-cause or cancer-specific mortality. The high prevalence of skin cancer adds to the public health significance of this question, providing a strong rationale for further research to resolve this question.