Eye and Hair Colour, Skin Type and Constitutive Skin Pigmentation as Risk Factors for Basal Cell Carcinoma and Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma: A Danish Case-Control Study

Abstract

To assess the importance of hair and eye colour, skin type and constitutive skin pigmentation as risk factors for basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous malignant melanoma in fair-skinned Caucasians, we conducted two identical case-control studies in Denmark. We studied 145 cases with basal cell carcinoma and 174 matched controls, and 168 cases with cutaneous malignant melanoma and 176 matched controls. Controls were matched on age, gender and place of residence. Subjects indicated their hair colour before 7 years of age, and at 25 years of age and their skin phototype. Interviewers assessed the present hair colour and eye colour, and the constitutive skin pigmentation was measured objectively by skin reflectance of UV unexposed buttock skin. There were no differences between basal cell carcinoma cases and controls in hair colour or eye colour or constitutive skin pigmentation, but more cases were of skin type II than skin type IV