The researchers, led by University of South Carolina physician Anthony Alberg, followed 19,174 people listed in a Washington County, Maryland, cancer registry. They compared the histories over 16 years of 769 people diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancers, with more than 18,000 people who did not have cancer in the period.
The results indicated that said the skin-cancer sufferers in the study were 3.8 times as likely to be struck with another cancer. Younger people (those 25-44) who had been diagnosed with skin cancer had the greatest chances of developing another form of cancer.
Researchers took into account variables such as age, sex, body mass index, sun exposure, smoking history, and their educational level. Nonmelanoma skin cancer is the most common cancer, which is usually not fatal. Past research has shown that people who have had non-melanoma skin cancers have a greater risk of developing melanoma.
Researchers believe that there may be genetic or internal factors in many skin cancer patients that make them more prone to cancer. They also recommend skin cancer survivors undergo screening for other cancer types.
The results are published in the Aug. 26 online version of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Skin cancer is by far the most common type of cancer, affecting about 1 million people each year in the United States alone.
