A team of researchers from the National Institutes of Health looked at data from women aged 15 to 39 from a network of cancer registries across the U.S. in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program from 1973 to 2004.
The findings showed that there was an increase in incidence of melanomas from the 1990s in women while the trend was fairly steady in men between 1980 and 2004. It was not entirely clear why more and more young women seem to be getting skin cancer.
Lead researcher Mark Purdue blames a increase on excessive sun exposure and the possible overuse of tanning salons, which tend to cater more to women than to men. Studies suggest that UV rays from tanning beds and tanning lamps can be just as damaging as sun rays.
Melanoma often first appears as a harmless mole, though it has a notorious potential to spread. Ultraviolet radiation is a main risk factor for developing melanoma.
The study is published in the July 10 edition of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
