Sex Differences in Numbers of Nevi on Body Sites of Young European Children: Implications for the Etiology of Cutaneous Melanoma

Abstract

The sex differences in small nevus distribution in schoolchildren reflect the sex differences in the anatomic distribution of melanoma in adults. Sex differences in sun exposure behaviors, dressing, and clothing would just add their effects to the sex-dependent inherited propensity to develop nevi on a given body site. These results reinforce the hypothesis by which childhood would be a decisive period for the occurrence of sun-induced biological events implicated in the genesis of cutaneous melanoma.