Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
Volume 56, Issue 5 , Pages 781-785, May 2007

Tea consumption and basal cell and squamous cell skin cancer: Results of a case-control study

  • Judy R. Rees, BM, BCh, PhD

      Affiliations

    • From the Departments of Community and Family Medicine (Section of Biostatistics and Epidemiology)
    • Dartmouth College Center for Environmental Health Sciences, Hanover
    • Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests: Judy R. Rees, BM, BCh, PhD, One Medical Center Dr, 7927 Rubin Bldg, Lebanon, NH 03756.
    • ,
  • Therese A. Stukel, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto
    • ,
  • Ann E. Perry, MD

      Affiliations

    • Pathology
    • ,
  • Michael S. Zens, PhD

      Affiliations

    • From the Departments of Community and Family Medicine (Section of Biostatistics and Epidemiology)
    • ,
  • Steven K. Spencer, MD

      Affiliations

    • Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon
    • ,
  • Margaret R. Karagas, PhD

      Affiliations

    • From the Departments of Community and Family Medicine (Section of Biostatistics and Epidemiology)
    • Dartmouth College Center for Environmental Health Sciences, Hanover
    • Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon

Accepted 26 November 2006. published online 03 February 2007.

Lebanon and Hanover, New Hampshire, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Background

Tea constituents, including polyphenols, are hypothesized to have chemopreventive properties, and inhibit the induction of skin cancers in animal models.

Objective

To explore the association between regular tea consumption (≥1 cup/d for ≥1 month) and the incidence of squamous cell (SCC) and basal cell (BCC) carcinomas.

Methods

A population-based case-control study of 770 individuals with BCC, 696 with SCC, and 715 age- and sex-matched control subjects.

Results

After adjustment for age, sex, and lifetime history of painful sunburns, ever having consumed tea regularly was associated with a significantly lower risk of SCC (odds ratio [OR] = 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.53-0.92), especially among long-term drinkers (≥47 years consumption: SCC, OR = 0.49; 95% CI 0.29-0.83; P for trend = .008) and among those consuming ≥2 cups/d (OR = 0.65; 95% CI 0.44-0.96; P for trend = 0.013). After adjustment for age and sex, ever having consumed tea regularly was weakly associated with BCC risk (OR = 0.79; 95% CI 0.63-0.98).

Limitations

Our case-control study was susceptible to recall bias and to confounding by unknown cancer risk factors associated with tea consumption.

Conclusions

Our findings support the existence of an inverse association between tea consumption and skin carcinogenesis.

Abbreviations used: BCC, basal cell carcinoma, CI, confidence interval, NMSC, nonmelanoma skin cancer, OR, odds ratio, SCC, squamous cell carcinoma

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 Supported by grant CA57494 from the National Institute of Health, National Cancer Institute.Conflicts of interest: None declared.

PII: S0190-9622(06)04103-X

doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2006.11.038

Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
Volume 56, Issue 5 , Pages 781-785, May 2007

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