Systematic review of case-control studies: oral contraceptives show no effect on melanoma risk.
BACKGROUND
Parallel to the rising incidence of malignant melanoma in fair-skinned populations, intensive efforts are currently devoted to identifying risk factors for melanoma in addition to the well-known cutaneous factors and those variables related to UV-exposure.


OBJECTIVE
Systematic review of published results to elucidate the role of oral contraceptives in the development of malignant melanoma.


METHODS
Literature retrieval systems MEDLINE and CANCERLIT as well as reference lists of already collected studies.


METHODS
All 18 (non-duplicate) case-control studies on the above relationship.


METHODS
From the published data, study-specific odds ratios (OR) and accompanying confidence intervals (CI) were recalculated. For a quantitative meta-analytical summarisation two different models have been applied: a "fixed effects" (FE) and a "random effects" (RE) model.


RESULTS
Study-specific ORs ranged from 0.13 up to 1.85; however, the majority of studies (14 of 18) yielded similar ORs within the interval [0.82, 1.15]. The summary ORs estimated from FE- and RE-models were both 0.95 (95% CI: [0.87, 1.04] for the FE-model, [0.87, 1.05] for the RE-model).


CONCLUSIONS
The systematic review of case-control studies revealed no evidence for an aetiological role of oral contraceptives in the development of malignant melanoma.
Pfahlberg
A
A
Department of Medical Statistics, University of Göttingen, Germany. annette.pfahlberg@unix.ams.med.uni-goettingen.de
Hassan
K
K
Wille
L
L
Lausen
B
B
Gefeller
O
O
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology
D003276:Contraceptives, Oral