Life-style factors among patients with melanoma

For the period 1975 to 1980, melanoma incidence in persons 10 through 49 years of age in a southwest Georgia town was significantly increased compared with US rates (expected = 9; observed = 41) and Atlanta rates (expected = 13; observed = 41). We surveyed 36 white patients with melanoma and 74 unaffected control subjects to identify risk factors possibly associated with melanoma in this population. When compared with the controls, the patients more often had a history of melanoma in family members [odds ratio (OR) = 8.00; 95% confidence limits (CL) = 0.89 to 71.6; P = .063]; skin sensitivity to sun exposure (OR = 1.63; CL = 1.04 to 2.56; P = 0.016); or preexisting pigmented nevi (OR = infinity; one-sided 95% lower limit = 1.94, P = .005). More male patients had melanomas on covered body sites, though 67% of melanomas in both sexes occurred on normally covered sites. Patients in our study also had been exposed more often than controls to sick animals in the year before onset (OR = 3.18; CL = 0.92 to 11.0; P = .055) and to pesticides in nonoccupational settings (OR = 3.56; CL = 0.87 to 14.5; P = .059).