American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on February 26, 2007
American Journal of Epidemiology 2007 165(11):1255-1264; doi:10.1093/aje/kwm020
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ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS |
Ultraviolet Radiation Exposure and Risk of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
1 Yale University School of Epidemiology and Public Health, New Haven, CT
2 International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France
3 Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT
4 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
5 Maine Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, University of South Maine, Portland, ME
6 Department of Surgery, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Correspondence to Dr. Yawei Zhang, Yale University School of Public Health, 60 College Street, LEPH 440, P.O. Box 208034, New Haven, CT 06520-8034 (e-mail: yawei.zhang{at}yale.edu).
Received for publication June 5, 2006. Accepted for publication November 17, 2006.
Sun exposure has been suggested to increase the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The authors analyzed data from a population-based, case-control study of Connecticut women between 1996 and 2000 to study the hypothesis. Women who reported having had a suntan experienced an increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with increasing duration (ptrend = 0.0062) compared with women who reported never having had a suntan. An almost threefold increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was observed among women who reported having had a suntan for less than 3 months per year and a suntan history of more than 60 years (odds ratio = 2.8, 95% confidence interval: 1.6, 4.9) compared with those who reported never having had a suntan. For women who reported having spent time in strong sunlight between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. during the summer, a 70% increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was observed for the highest tertile of duration compared with the lowest (odds ratio = 1.7, 95% confidence interval: 1.2, 2.4). The risk increased with increasing duration of time spent in strong sunlight in summer (ptrend = 0.0051). The risk appears to vary by non-Hodgkin's lymphoma subtypes. Further investigations of the role of ultraviolet radiation on the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are warranted.
case-control studies; lymphoma, non-Hodgkin; radiation, nonionizing; ultraviolet rays
Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio