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Non-melanoma skin cancer, which includes basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma, is the most common form of cancer in the U.S. In 2012 alone, more than two million new cases of non-melanoma skin cancer arose in the country, according to the National Cancer Institute.
A recent study by BWH researchers demonstrates an association between non-melanoma skin cancer and future cancer risk among white men and women. Researchers found that people with a history of non-melanoma skin cancer had a modestly increased risk of getting cancer in the future—specifically breast and lung cancer in women and melanoma in both men and women—compared to those without a history of non-melanoma skin cancer.
Researchers analyzed data from two large U.S. studies—the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurses’ Health Study. They followed approximately 46,000 men from 1986 to 2008 in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and about 107,000 women from 1984 to 2008 in the Nurses’ Health Study.
A history of non-melanoma skin cancer was significantly associated with a 15 percent higher risk of other primary cancers in men, and a 26 percent higher risk of other primary cancers in women. When melanoma was excluded from this analysis, the rates changed slightly, with a history of non-melanoma skin cancer associated with an 11 percent higher risk of other primary cancers in men, and a 20 percent higher risk of other primary cancers in women.
“Because our study was observational, these results should be interpreted cautiously and do not yet provide enough evidence to alter current clinical recommendations,” said Jiali Han, PhD, of BWH’s Department of Dermatology and Channing Division of Network Medicine. “Nevertheless, these data support a need for continued investigation of the potential mechanisms underlying this relationship.”