Early sunbed use boosts melanoma risk

People who use tanning beds do not protect themselves from skin damage from subsequent sun exposure, an international research group has concluded. In fact, use of sunbeds before age 35 substantially increases the risk of developing melanoma, the most deadly type of skin cancer, the investigators found.

"Young adults should be discouraged from using indoor tanning equipment and restricted access to sunbeds by minors should be strongly considered," the Working Group on artificial UV light and skin cancer of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concludes in the March 1 issue of the International Journal of Cancer.

The group reviewed all studies done up until March 2006 to investigate the relationship between sunbed use and skin cancer.

Men and women who ever used sunbeds were 15 percent more likely to develop melanoma, the researchers found, based on 19 studies they reviewed. A review of seven studies found that exposure to tanning beds before age 35 boosted melanoma risk by 75 percent.

While three studies of a less-deadly type of skin cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, also found increased risk with sunbed exposure, research did not support a link with basal cell carcinoma, another common type of skin cancer.

Given that sunbed use has become widespread only relatively recently, and that both melanoma and basal cell carcinoma have a long latency period, the current study may not have been able to detect all potential risk, the researchers note.

Nevertheless, they say, current evidence is strong enough to suggest that tanning bed use causes skin cancer, especially if exposure to sunbeds occurs before the age of 35.

"The strength of the existing evidence suggests that policy makers should strongly consider enacting measures such as restricting minors and discouraging young adults from using indoor tanning equipment, in order to protect the general population from additional risk for melanoma and squamous cell skin cancer," the IARC group concludes.