title: [Skin cancer risk factors in childhood: findings of a survey conducted within Italian areas with a different incidence of melanoma].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to evaluate the association between phenotype and sun sensitivity factors, sun protection behavior, ethnicity and the area of residence in school-aged children.
  
  
  METHODS
  a cross-sectional study in the framework of a survey of children using a self-administered questionnaire to be filled in by parents.
  
  
  METHODS
  56390 children attending primary schools located in the Italian provinces of Brindisi, Rome, Forlì and Genova, in the period between 1998-2002.
  
  
  METHODS
  Odds Ratios (ORs) and their relative 95% Confidence Intervals (95% CI) are to be computed through univariate and multivariate logistic regression models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  "FOTO positive" phenotype, a proxy variable of the fair phenotype, was directly and significantly associated with the tendency to sunburn (OR 4.75; 95% CI 4.54-4.96), the use of sunscreens (OR 1.79; 95% CI 1.63-1.97), the number of grandparents born in the northern areas (OR 1.63; 95% CI 1.45-1.83, for four northern grandparents versus none), the presence of freckles on the face (OR 1.62; 95% CI 1.53-1.72) and of naevi on the left forearm (OR 1.20; 95% CI 1.15-1.26). A positive association was also found for the residence in the northern areas using the area of Brindisi as the reference category, (Rome: OR 1.02; 95% CI 0.95-1.10; Forlì: OR 1.05; 95% CI 0.96-1.15; Genova: OR 1.16; 95% CI 1.08-1.26); the ORs increase with latitude, as does the incidence rate of melanoma in Italy. An inverse association was observed with the male sex (OR 0.92; 95% CI 0.88-0.96), the increase of school-class level (OR 0.65; 95% CI 0.60-0.69, for the highest versus the lowest school-class level) and the ability to tan (OR 0.40; 95% CI 0.36-0.43).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  these findings confirmed that the fairness phenotype is associated with other skin cancer risk factors in children and pointed out that the high-risk phenotype has a geographical distribution consistent with the pattern of melanoma incidence in the Italian areas covered by the study.
authors.affiliation: SC di epidemiologia, Istituto nazionale tumori Regina Elena, Istituti fisioterapici ospitalieri, Roma, Italy. ramazzotti@ifo.it
authors.forename: Valerio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ramazzotti
authors.forename: Maria Cecilia
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Cercato
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Terrenato
authors.forename: Pieluigi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Santi
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Falcini
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Assennato
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gattei
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Catricalà
authors.forename: Pier Giorgio
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Natali
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology; D008548:Melanosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology; D009506:Nevus / Q000453:epidemiology; D010290:Parents; D010641:Phenotype; D010858:Pigmentation; D011836:Radiation Tolerance; D012307:Risk Factors; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology; D055108:Sunbathing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013472:Sunlight / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013473:Sunscreening Agents; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D013473:Sunscreening Agents