Melanoma diagnosis is associated with increased risk of subsequent prostate cancer, according to a study published online Nov. 1 in the British Journal of Cancer .

Sam Egger, from the University of Sydney, and colleagues recruited men from 2006 to 2009 to examine the association between cutaneous melanoma and subsequent risk of prostate cancer. Data were included from 96,548 eligible men, of whom 1,899 were diagnosed with melanoma during the melanoma diagnosis period. During follow-up, 3,677 incident prostate cancers were diagnosed.

The researchers found that the risk of a subsequent prostate cancer diagnosis was increased for men with a melanoma diagnosis versus those with no melanoma (fully adjusted hazard ratio, 1.32; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.09 to 1.60). Weak evidence was seen for higher risks of a subsequent prostate cancer diagnosis for men diagnosed with more than one versus one melanoma. The association was also seen if first melanoma diagnosis was 10 to 15 years before study recruitment (fully adjusted hazard ratio, 2.05; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.35 to 3.12).

"Our study is the first to show that the positive association between melanoma and the subsequent risk of prostate cancer diagnosis is unlikely to be due to confounding from increased medical surveillance after a melanoma diagnosis," the authors write. "The positive association remained significant even after the over-adjustment for rate of prostate-specific antigen monitoring tests ."

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