Burn victim.

We have sad news for our fellow Southerners out there with Northern-European ancestry who filled their childhood summers with care-free (read: sunscreen-free) outdoor days. This huge Norwegian population-based study assessed five lifetime sunburn trajectories and lifetime risk for cutaneous melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) among women. The standout dangerous trajectories were [1] a consistently frequent rate of sunburn—could have guessed that one— that carried a significantly increased risk of melanoma (HR 1.50) and SCC (1.44) but also [2] a high rate of sunburn in childhood → low rate thereafter that carried about the same significant increase in risk for both melanoma (HR 1.51) and SCC (HR 1.47). This was in notable contrast to the trajectory of a low rate in childhood → high rate thereafter who saw now significant increase in risk over their peers with a consistently low lifetime rate of sunburn. | Lergenmuller, JAMA Dermatol 2022