Following statistical analysis of 1,440 melanoma cases in Norwegian women, the authors found no association between melanoma thickness and physical activity.
Clinical Pearls
This study used population-based data in a prospective cohort to determine if an association exists between physical activity and melanoma thickness
Following statistical analysis of 1,440 melanoma cases in Norwegian women, the authors found no association between melanoma thickness and physical activity
Discussion:
This study published in the British Journal of Dermatology sought to better understand the association between physical activity and melanoma thickness at diagnosis. The authors noted that physical activity has been associated with improved outcomes for several cancers, however, its relation with melanoma prognosis is not known.
Using the population-based Norwegian Women and Cancer (NOWAC) cohort, composed of questionnaires sent to Norwegian women between the ages of 30 and 75 years old between the years of 1991 and 2007, the authors searched for participants with a first incident primary invasive melanoma. Those who did not answer physical activity-related questions in the study were excluded as well as those with prevalent cancer or missing information. This search resulted in 1,444 melanoma cases where the majority of cases were classified as T1 (≤1.0 mm).
Following statistical analysis, no association between physical activity and melanoma thickness was found. The authors did find that slightly thinner upper limb melanomas were predicted for highly active participants, however, this association was not found to be significant. One weakness of this study is that it did not consider behavioral practices such as exercising outside or regularly following with a dermatologist.
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