Ultraviolets et risques inversés des cancers de la peau et de la prostate.

Ultraviolets et risques inversés des cancers de la peau et de la prostate.

Résultats d'une étude regroupant 13.541 hommes atteints de cancers de la peau diagnostiqués en 1972 et suivis jusqu'en 2005 :
chez eux le risque de cancer de la prostate a été diminué de 11 % par rapport à la population générale ;
et même de 22 % juste après le diagnostic.

Chez ceux dont la tête et le cou étaient chroniquement exposés aux UV et qui avaient dépassé l'âge de 60 ans, le taux de cancer de la prostate était diminué de 14 %.

de Vries & Coll., American Journal of Epidemiology, 15 avril 2007 ; 165 (8) : 966-272.

ARTICLES

Decreased Risk of Prostate Cancer after Skin Cancer Diagnosis: A Protective Role of Ultraviolet Radiation?

Esther de Vries1, Isabelle Soerjomataram1, Saskia Houterman2, Marieke W. J. Louwman2 and Jan Willem W. Coebergh1,2
1 Department of Public Health, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
2 Comprehensive Cancer Centre South, Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Correspondence to Dr. E. de Vries, Department of Public Health, Erasmus Medical Center, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands (e-mail: e.devries@erasmusmc.nl).

Received for publication July 5, 2006. Accepted for publication October 5, 2006.

Ultraviolet radiation causes skin cancer but may protect against prostate cancer. The authors hypothesized that skin cancer patients had a lower prostate cancer incidence than the general population. In the southeastern part of the Netherlands, a population-based cohort of male skin cancer patients diagnosed since 1970 (2,620 squamous cell carcinomas, 9,501 basal cell carcinomas, and 1,420 cutaneous malignant melanomas) was followed up for incidence of invasive prostate cancer until January 1, 2005, within the framework of the Eindhoven Cancer Registry. The incidence rates of prostate cancer among skin cancer patients were compared with those in the reference population, resulting in standardized incidence ratios. Skin cancer patients were at decreased risk of developing prostate cancer compared with the general population (standardized incidence ratio (SIR) = 0.89, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.78, 0.99), especially shortly after diagnosis. The risk of advanced prostate cancer was significantly decreased (SIR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.56, 0.94), indicating a possible antiprogression effect of ultraviolet radiation. Patients with a skin cancer in the chronically ultraviolet radiation-exposed head and neck area (SIR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.73, 0.97) and those diagnosed after the age of 60 years (SIR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.75, 0.97) had decreased prostate cancer incidence rates. These results support the hypothesis that ultraviolet radiation protects against prostate cancer.

cohort studies; neoplasms; second primary; prostatic neoplasms; registries; skin neoplasms

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; SIR, standardized incidence ratio