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Air Pollution Exposure May Be Protective for Melanoma Risk

Darker skin phototypes and cigarette smoking were also associated with reduced melanoma risk

By Dermsquared Editorial Team | January 22, 2025

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 22, 2025 -- Exposure to particulate matter (PM) with diameters of 10 µm (PM10) or with diameters that are 2.5 µm or smaller (PM2.5) seems to have a protective effect on melanoma risk, potentially due to the reduction in ultraviolet radiation exposure, according to a study published online Jan. 17 in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

Francesco Bellinato, M.D., from the University of Verona in Italy, and colleagues conducted a case-control study involving 2,575 participants (1,473 melanoma patients and 1,102 healthy controls) to examine the association between PM10 and PM2.5 long-term exposure and melanoma risk.

The researchers found that most melanoma patients had Fitzpatrick phenotypes 2 and 3 (59 and 36 percent, respectively). The average melanoma Breslow thickness was 1.01 mm; 68.15 percent of cases were diagnosed at stage 0 or IA. Higher PM10 and PM2.5 levels had a protective effect in multivariate logistic regression (odds ratios, 0.89 and 0.72, respectively). A reduced risk for melanoma was also seen in association with darker skin phototypes (Fitzpatrick 4) and cigarette smoking.

"Our findings suggest a neutral or even beneficial effect of exposure to higher PM10 and PM2.5 levels on melanoma risk," the authors write. "These results are preliminary and should be interpreted with caution because of many potential residual confounding factors."

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