A dose‐response curve for sun exposure and basal cell carcinoma

Abstract

A population‐based case‐control study of sun exposure and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) was conducted in Western Australia in 1988. Its aim was to examine the relationship between risk of BCC and the amount and pattern of sun exposure. This report deals with amount of exposure. The odds ratios (ORs) for BCC on the head and neck and limbs decreased with increasing total exposure, whereas the opposite was observed for BCC on the less heavily exposed trunk, with the highest OR in those with the greatest exposure. In an analysis of all body sites together in which the total hours of exposure to the specific site was treated as a continuous variable, an initial rise in risk of BCC was seen with a pe..