Risk of cutaneous melanoma associated with a family history of the disease

In a combined analysis of 2952 melanoma patients and 3618 controls from 8 case-control studies in white populations the risk of cutaneous melanoma was 2.24-fold higher (95% CI, 1.76-2.86) in subjects who reported at least one affected first-degree relative than in subjects who did not. There was no evidence for heterogeneity in the relative risk between the studies, which were from a wide range of latitudes and hence degrees of sun exposure. The effect of family history on melanoma risk was independent of age, naevus count, hair and eye colour, and freckling. There was no evidence for a relationship between family history and primary site of melanoma but there was some suggestion that the familial patients were more likely to have superficial spreading melanoma or lentigo maligna melanoma than acral lentiginous melanoma or nodular melanoma.