Frequency of moles as a key to melanoma incidence?

Subjects with light skin complexion are especially prone to develop melanoma. Furthermore, individuals with large numbers of moles are also at increased risk of developing melanoma. We studied the association between these two markers of melanoma in a group of healthy white people: 116 children 6 to 9 years of age, 78 children 10 to 13 years of age, and 133 medical and nursing students 18 to 30 years of age. Moles were counted on the chest, back, and lower legs. Skin complexion was established with the use of a scoring system based on burning/tanning ability, eye and hair color, and freckling tendency. A multifactorial statistical analysis was performed. Average mole counts increased with age (p less than 0.0001). Male subjects had more nevi on the trunk than female subjects, whereas counts on the lower legs were higher in female than in male subjects (p = 0.0001). Skin complexion was an important denominator of mole proneness; subjects with a light complexion had higher mean counts than those with a dark complexion (p = 0.0001). The present study shows that a significant association exists between skin complexion phenotype and numbers of moles. The pattern of the appearance of pigmented nevi roughly correlates with the sex and site distribution of melanoma.