Meta-analysis: Severe Childhood Sunburns Triple Risk of cSCC
Key Takeaways
High-frequency painful or blistering sunburns significantly increase the odds of developing cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC), a new meta-analysis suggests.
Childhood sunburns pose a greater relative risk than adult exposures.
When assesed over a lifespan, the data indicated that even a single severe sunburn was associated with elevated risk for cSCC.
Data from a new meta-analysis showed an association between severe sunburn history and increased risk of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) across all life stages.
Researchers publishing in JAMA Dermatology used the search terms "Non melanoma skin cancer or nonmelanoma skin cancer or NMSC or squamous cell carcinoma or SCC or cSCC or Bowen disease and Sunburn or sun exposure or sunlight or sun damage or ultraviolet radiation or ultraviolet light or ultraviolet rays" for their searches in Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane Library (CENTRAL), initially screening more than 9,000 titles and abstracts. The final study sample consisted of 17 observational studies (with a total of 321,473 participants), in which data were pooled using the DerSimonian-Laird random-effects model. The analysis adhered to the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) guidelines.
The analysis showed a stepwise increase in cSCC odds with more frequent severe sunburns. Those with medium and high lifetime frequencies of painful or blistering sunburns had 1.51-fold (95% CI, 1.26 to 1.81) and 1.69-fold (95% CI, 1.39 to 2.06) increased odds of developing cSCC, respectively vs. those reporting no such history. The association was also significant when sunburns occurred during childhood, with high-frequency exposure linked to a 3.11-fold increase in risk (95% CI, 1.26 to 7.66). Even a single painful or blistering sunburn was associated with elevated risk over a lifespan (OR = 1.38; 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.79).
Source: Weber I, et al. JAMA Dermatology. 2025. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2025.3473