Use of tanning potential as a predictor for prostate cancer risk in African-American men.
OBJECTIVE
Vitamin D deficiency in African-Americans is common due to the high melanin content of the skin that reduces the absorption of UV radiation. To determine if there is a correlation between UV exposure, tanning potential and vitamin D with prostate cancer (PC) risk, we conducted a case-control study of 183 African-American men aged 40 years and older residing in the Washington, DC area.


METHODS
PC status was described as a binary variable as the presence or absence of cancer and the environmental factors as continuous variables. We used a logistic regression model describing PC as the response, while age, tanning potential, sunlight and vitamin D were treated as the predictors.


RESULTS
Men aged 60 years and older had a seven-fold increased risk for developing PC compared to those aged 50 years and less (p<0.003). Tanning potential was a significant (p=0.05) risk factor for PC, while sunlight exposure and vitamin D were not. Tanning potential was also significant (p=0.044) when adjusted for vitamin D and age. However, tanning potential was only marginally significant when adjusted for sunlight exposure (p=0.064) CONCLUSION: The findings of this study indicate that tanning potential may be a predictor for PC risk in African-American men.
Howard University Cancer Center, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
Desta
D
Beyene
Howard University Cancer Center, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
Mohammad
M
Daremipouran
National Human Genome Center, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC, U.S.A. Community and Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
Victor
V
Apprey
Department of Family Medicine, Howard University Hospital, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
Robert
R
Williams
Cancer Research Center, Hampton University, Hampton, VA, U.S.A.
Luisel
L
Ricks-Santi
Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
Olakunle O
OO
Kassim
Department of Pathology, Howard University Hospital, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
Tammey J
TJ
Naab
Howard University Cancer Center, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC, U.S.A. Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
Yasmine M
YM
Kanaan
Howard University Cancer Center, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC, U.S.A. Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC, U.S.A. rlcopeland@howard.edu.
Robert L
RL
Copeland
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D012306:Risk; D013472:Sunlight; D055107:Suntan; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism
D014807:Vitamin D
African-American men; prostate cancer; ultraviolet exposure; vitamin D