Association between ambient ultraviolet radiation and risk of esophageal cancer

Bich Tran, Robyn Lucas, Michael Kimlin, David Whiteman, Rachel Neale

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    OBJECTIVES: Ecological studies have suggested an inverse relationship between latitude and risks of some cancers. However, associations between solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure and esophageal cancer risk have not been fully explored. We therefore investigated the association between nevi, freckles, and measures of ambient UVR over the life-course with risks of esophageal cancers. METHODS: We compared estimated lifetime residential ambient UVR among Australian patients with esophageal cancer (330 esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), 386 esophago-gastric junction adenocarcinoma (EGJAC), and 279 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC)), and 1471 population controls. We asked people where they had lived at different periods of their life, and assigned ambient UVR to each location based on measurements from NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer database. Freckling and nevus burden were self-reported. We used multivariable logistic regression models to estimate the magnitude of associations between phenotype, ambient UVR, and esophageal cancer risk. RESULTS: Compared with population controls, patients with EAC and EGJAC were less likely to have high levels of estimated cumulative lifetime ambient UVR (EAC odds ratio (OR) 0.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.35–0.99, EGJAC OR 0.55, 0.34–0.90). We found no association between UVR and risk of ESCC (OR 0.91, 0.51–1.64). The associations were independent of age, sex, body mass index, education, state of recruitment, frequency of reflux, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and H. pylori serostatus. Cases with EAC were also significantly less likely to report high levels of nevi than controls. CONCLUSIONS: These data show an inverse association between ambient solar UVR at residential locations and risk of EAC and EGJAC, but not ESCC.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1803-1813
    Number of pages11
    JournalAmerican Journal of Gastroenterology
    Volume107
    Issue number12
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Association between ambient ultraviolet radiation and risk of esophageal cancer'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this