Trends in Incidence of Malignant Melanoma of the Skin in Denmark 1943–1982

Abstract

Malignant melanoma of the skin is largely confined to Caucasians, and it is especially frequent in countries with fair-skinned populations (Crombie 1979b; Waterhouse et al. 1982). Ultraviolet light from the sun seems to play a dominant role as a risk factor; white skin lacks the protection against ultraviolet light that pigmented people acquire from melanin in the basal layer of the epidermis (Crombie 1979a). The differences observed between more and less developed white societies and between people living in Scandinavia and in the Mediterranean countries may arise because even minor differences in the natural pigmentation of the skin play a major role in the risk of cutaneous melanoma. To what extent the considerable increases in the incidence of skin melanomas observed in some white populations (Jensen and Bolander 1980; Little et al. 1980; Magnus 1977) are related to changes in habits and general way of life and how much protection pigmentation provides against the influence of a more hazardous, opulent life-style must still be investigated. Clarification and recognition of relations between life-style and risk of malignant melanoma may ultimately result in public counselling with the aim of reversing the steadily increasing health problems caused by this malignancy.