Socio-economic status, indoor and outdoor work, and malignant melanoma

Among New Zealand non-Maori men, professional, technical, administrative and managerial workers had the highest incidence and mortality rates for malignant melanoma of the skin; labourers and workers in production and transport had the lowest rates. Reclassification of occupations, in terms of both socio-economic status and a three-step scale of outdoor exposure during work, suggested that differences between occupational groups were determined by differences in socio-economic status. Outdoor work exposure seemed to have little effect on the risk of melanoma.