A recently published small study in Journal of Clinical Oncology has suggested that adults who regularly use sunscreen are far less likely to develop melanoma.
Melanoma, is a form of skin cancer, quite deadly one.
The study authors found that the people who used sunscreen in 199o were less likely to develop melanoma 15 years later.
The authors followed on a study of more than 1,600 Australians that started in 1992. They had been randomly assigned to either get standard advice to use sunscreen, or to be given sunscreen to use with careful instructions and supervision until 1996.
Ten years after the trial ended, 11 patients who had been supervised developed melanoma, compared to 22 who just got standard advice to use sunscreen and cover up.
This is a 50% reduction, and the risk of invasive melanoma was even lower, reduced by 73%.
J Clin Oncol, online December 6, 2010.
