title: Personal history of prostate cancer and increased risk of incident melanoma in the United States.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Steroid hormones, particularly androgens, play a major role in prostatic carcinogenesis. Personal history of severe acne, a surrogate for higher androgen activity, has been associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer (PCa), and one recent study indicated that severe teenage acne was a novel risk factor for melanoma. These findings suggest a possible relationship between PCa and risk of melanoma. We prospectively evaluated this association among US men.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 42,372 participants in the Health Professionals' Follow-Up Study (HPFS; 1986 to 2010) were included. Biennially self-reported PCa diagnosis was confirmed using pathology reports. Diagnosis of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) was self-reported biennially, and diagnosis of melanoma was pathologically confirmed. We sought to confirm the association in 18,603 participants from the Physicians' Health Study (PHS; 1982 to 1998).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 539 melanomas in the HPFS. Personal history of PCa was associated with an increased risk of melanoma (multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.83; 95% CI, 1.32 to 2.54). Although we also detected a marginally increased risk of NMSC associated with PCa (HR, 1.08; 95% CI, 0.995 to 1.16), the difference in the magnitude of the association between melanoma and NMSC was significant (P for heterogeneity = .002). We did not find an altered risk of melanoma associated with personal history of other cancers. The association between PCa and risk of incident melanoma was confirmed in the PHS (HR, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.12 to 4.21).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Personal history of PCa is associated with an increased risk of melanoma, which may not be entirely a result of greater medical scrutiny.
authors.affiliation: Wen-Qing Li and Alisa M. Goldstein, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD; Wen-Qing Li, Abrar A. Qureshi, Jing Ma, Edward L. Giovannucci, Meir J. Stampfer, and Jiali Han, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Edward L. Giovannucci and Meir J. Stampfer, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA; Jiali Han, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Simon Cancer Center, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN; and Jiali Han, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Qing
authors.initials: WQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Abrar A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Qureshi
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Alisa M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.forename: Edward L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Giovannucci
authors.forename: Meir J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Stampfer
authors.forename: Jiali
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000152:Acne Vulgaris / Q000453:epidemiology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology