Studies finally link tanning beds to melanoma.(News)

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Two new studies presented at the Sixth World Congress on Melanoma have linked tanning bed use and melanoma.

"The year 2005 sees the first real, indisputable evidence that tanning bed use contributes to melanoma risk," said Philippe Autier, M.D., of the Jules Bordet Institute, Brussels, the chair of the session at which the studies were presented.

The larger of the two studies looked at tanning bed use by 106,000 Scandinavian women enrolled in a lifestyle study in the early 1990s, part of which involved a survey that asked if they used tanning equipment, when, and for how long.

When the survey was repeated with a portion of the subjects 5 years after the initial one, the answers of 79% of surveys agreed completely with how the subjects had answered before, and 96% had a high, but not exact, agreement, suggesting the reports were very accurate, said Marit Bragelien Veierod, Ph.D., of the department of biostatistics at the University of Oslo.

With the data broken into age groups by decade, those in the 20- to 29-year age group who used tanning equipment one or more times a month had a 57% higher relative risk of melanoma, those in the 30- to 39-year age group had a 44% increased risk, and those in the 40- to 49-year age group had a 69% higher risk.

Comparing all those who reported having ever used tanning equipment with those who had never used it, the study showed an increased relative risk of 33% associated with tanning ...