December 12, 2011   Women who have non-melanoma skin cancers are more likely to have smoked cigarettes compared to women without skin cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Causes & Control. Study results showed that cigarette smoking was associated with non-melanoma skin cancer overall, and that the risk increased with numbers of cigarettes per day, total years of smoking, and pack-years smoked. Associations were particularly strong for squamous cell carcinomas, which was twice as likely in women who have smoked for 20 or more years compared to controls. Among men, there were no statistically significant associations between smoking and skin cancer. It is unclear why women smokers would be more likely than men to be diagnosed with squamous cell carcinomas. “Further study is needed to shed more light on the sex-based differences and the role of smoking in non-melanoma skin cancers,” concluded lead study author Dana E. Rollison.

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