I grew up in Hawaii baking on white and black sand beaches. When it comes to skin cancer I can either be considered an “expert”… or a potential victim. (The latter obviously begets the former.) Nowadays I actively search out any and all new information regarding skin cancer (cancer in general) and recently stumbled upon a new report in the Archives of Dermatology, which addressed skin cancer and its relationship to people who run marathons.
Considering I run marathons and have spent the past 8 years trying to undo (not possible) the effects of—GASP—slathering baby oil on my skin prior to enduring 7-hour long “tanning” sessions I figured I had a vested interest in reading the new research. If you enjoy running outdoors in the mid-day sun, you may gain some useful information from the study as well.
According to researchers, white marathon runners seem to face an increased risk of skin cancer because of long sun exposure. Austrian dermatologists recruited 210 marathon runners for their study and matched them for age and sex with 210 other people across Austria. A dermatologist screened all 420 participants during the study.
The study showed that the marathon runners had more abnormal moles and lesions than their non-running counterparts. Twenty-four of the marathon runners were referred for surgical treatment, compared with 14 treatment referrals among the non-marathoners.
In addition, researchers found the highest rate of referrals for treatment, 19%, was among the marathoners who trained the most, more than 43.5 miles per week.
However, the statistic that stood out to me the most was the one that involved the number of runners who reported wearing sunscreen regularly. Only 56% of the runners surveyed reported wearing sunscreen regularly. I must admit, prior to being screened for skin cancer I never wore sunscreen on any of my runs (which averaged between 1 and 2 hours a day). Now, of course I know better and have a bottle of sunscreen on hand wherever I go.
As far as the new study is concerned, I am not surprised by the results. I’m sure many of the runners who were referred to doctors following their examinations simply didn’t think it was necessary to protect themselves from the sun during their regular runs.
Are you surprised by the results?
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