Comparison of demographic characteristics of 120 melanoma patients and 120 healthy controls and comparison between the two subgroups of 52 MetM and 68 NMetM patients
| Characteristics | All melanoma cases n=120 | Healthy controls n=120 | OR (CI) (melanomas vs. healthy controls) | P (melanomas vs. healthy controls) | MetM n=52 | NMetM n=68 | OR (CI) (MetM vs. NMetM) | P (MetM vs. NMetM) |
| Age, years, mean±SD | 59.1±12.8 | 56.8±11.8 | – | 0.110a | 60.2±12.1 | 58.3±13.4 | – | 0.503a |
| Age <50 years, n (%) | 34 (28.3) | 37 (30.8) | 0.89 (0.51–1.54) | 0.671 | 11 (21.1) | 23 (33.8) | 0.52 (0.23–1.21) | 0.127 |
| Males, n (%) | 65 (54.2) | 65 (54.2) | 1.00 (0.60–1.66) | 1.000 | 32 (61.5) | 33 (48.5) | 1.70 (0.81–3.53) | 0.156 |
| BMI, kg/m2, mean±SD | 25.7±3.89 | 24.4±3.35 | – | 0.010a | 26.1±3.81 | 25.4±3.94 | – | 0.392a |
| BMI >25.0 kg/m2, n (%) | 63 (52.5) | 52 (43.3) | 1.44 (0.87–2.40) | 0.155 | 30 (57.7) | 33 (48.5) | 1.45 (0.70–2.99) | 0.319 |
| BMI >30.0 kg/m2, n (%) | 16 (13.3) | 5 (4.2) | 3.54 (1.25–10.0) | 0.012 | 9 (17.3) | 7 (10.3) | 1.82 (0.63–5.27) | 0.263 |
| Born in FVG region, n (%) | 99 (82.5) | 100 (83.3) | 0.94 (0.48–1.85) | 0.864 | 40 (76.9) | 59 (86.8) | 0.51 (0.20–1.32) | 0.160 |
| All 4 grand-parents born in FVG region, n (%) | 85 (70.8) | 83 (69.2) | 1.08 (0.62–1.88) | 0.778 | 35 (67.3) | 50 (73.5) | 0.74 (0.34–1.63) | 0.457 |
| Elementary school (5 study years), n (%) | 17 (14.2) | 8 (6.7) | 2.31 (0.96–5.58) | 0.057^ | 10 (19.2) | 7 (10.3) | 2.07 (0.73–5.89) | 0.164 |
| Low high-school (8 study years), n (%) | 34 (28.3) | 21 (17.5) | 1.86 (1.01–3.45) | 0.046 | 18 (34.6) | 16 (23.5) | 1.72 (0.77–3.83) | 0.182 |
| High-school (13 study years), n (%) | 54 (45.0) | 42 (35.0) | 1.52 (0.90–2.55) | 0.114 | 21 (40.4) | 33 (48.5) | 0.72 (0.35–1.49) | 0.374 |
| University level (laurea and/or master and/or PhD), n (%) | 15 (12.5) | 49 (40.8) | 0.21 (0.11–0.40) | <0.001 | 3 (5.8) | 12 (17.6) | 0.29 (0.08–1.07) | 0.051^ |
| Phototype 1 or 2, n (%) | 71 (59.2) | 31 (25.8) | 4.16 (2.41–7.19) | <0.001 | 34 (65.4) | 37 (54.4) | 1.58 (0.75–3.33) | 0.226 |
| Total Body Nevi >50, n (%) | 63 (52.5) | 41 (34.2) | 2.13 (1.27–3.58) | 0.004 | 28 (53.8) | 35 (51.5) | 1.10 (0.53–2.27) | 0.796 |
| Easy tanner, n (%) | 4 (3.3) | 22 (18.3) | 0.15 (0.05–0.46) | <0.001 | 0 (–) | 4 (5.9) | –b | –b |
| Medium tanner, n (%) | 50 (41.7) | 71 (59.2) | 0.49 (0.29–0.82) | 0.007 | 22 (42.3) | 28 (41.2) | 1.05 (0.50–2.18) | 0.901 |
| Low tanner, n (%) | 58 (48.3) | 26 (21.7) | 3.38 (1.93–5.94) | <0.001 | 27 (51.9) | 31 (45.6) | 1.29 (0.62–2.66) | 0.491 |
| No tanner, n (%) | 8 (6.7) | 2 (1.7) | 4.21 (0.88–20.3) | 0.053^ | 3 (5.8) | 5 (7.4) | 0.77 (0.18–3.39) | 1.000 |
| Sunburns lifelong ≤5, n (%) | 37 (30.8) | 58 (48.3) | 0.48 (0.28–0.81) | 0.006 | 14 (26.9) | 23 (33.8) | 0.72 (0.33–1.59) | 0.417 |
| Sunburns lifelong 6–10, n (%) | 21 (17.5) | 28 (23.3) | 0.70 (0.37–1.31) | 0.262 | 12 (23.1) | 9 (13.2) | 1.97 (0.76–5.10) | 0.160 |
| Sunburns lifelong >10, n (%) | 51 (42.5) | 27 (22.5) | 2.55 (1.45–4.46) | 0.001 | 21 (40.4) | 30 (44.1) | 0.86 (0.41–1.78) | 0.682 |
| Present-smoker, n (%) | 13 (10.8) | 20 (16.7) | 0.61 (0.29–1.29) | 0.189 | 5 (9.6) | 8 (11.8) | 0.80 (0.24–2.60) | 0.707 |
| ≥20 years smoking among present-smokers, n (%) | 11 (84.6) | 12 (60.0) | 3.67 (0.64–21.1) | 0.245 | 4 (80.0) | 7 (87.5) | 0.57 (0.03–11.8) | 1.000 |
| Years smoking among present-smokers, mean±SD | 27.7±13.7 | 23.4±13.5 | – | 0.386a | 25.4±7.96 | 29.1±16.7 | – | 0.558a |
| N. cigarettes/day among present-smokers, mean±SD | 14.4±9.99 | 9.83±6.26 | – | 0.234a | 13.2±6.98 | 15.1±11.9 | – | 0.941a |
| Past-smoker, n (%) | 46 (38.3) | 28 (23.3) | 2.04 (1.17–3.58) | 0.012 | 23 (44.2) | 23 (33.8) | 1.55 (0.74–3.26) | 0.245 |
| ≥20 years smoking among past-smokers, n (%) | 25 (54.3) | 6 (21.4) | 4.36 (1.49–12.8) | 0.005 | 17 (73.9) | 8 (34.8) | 5.31 (1.50–18.8) | 0.008 |
| Years smoking among past-smokers, mean±SD | 20.5±12.9 | 17.4±13.2 | – | 0.237a | 24.5±13.9 | 16.4±10.6 | – | 0.039a |
| N. cigarettes/day among past-smokers, mean±SD | 14.9±10.5 | 16.0±13.2 | – | 0.964a | 13.8±9.85 | 16.0±11.3 | – | 0.424a |
| Years quitting smoke among past-smokers, mean±SD | 20.2±12.3 | 20.6±14.5 | – | 0.978a | 20.0±13.0 | 20.3±11.9 | – | 0.895a |
| Quitted smoking before first melanoma diagnosis among past-smokers, n (%) | 39 (84.8) | – | – | – | 19 (82.6) | 20 (87.0) | 0.71 (0.14–3.61) | 1.000 |
| Years quitted smoking before first melanoma diagnosis, mean±SD | 16.2±10.1 | – | – | – | 15.8±10.1 | 16.6±10.3 | – | 0.899 |
| Ever-smoker, n (%) | 59 (49.2) | 48 (40.0) | 1.45 (0.87–2.42) | 0.153 | 28 (53.8) | 31 (45.6) | 1.39 (0.67–2.87) | 0.370 |
| ≥20 years smokers among ever-smokers, n (%) | 36 (61.0) | 18 (37.5) | 2.61 (1.19–5.72) | 0.016 | 21 (75.0) | 15 (48.4) | 3.20 (1.06–9.69) | 0.036 |
| Years smoking among ever-smokers, mean±SD | 22.0±13.3 | 19.9±13.5 | – | 0.298a | 24.7±12.9 | 19.7±13.4 | – | 0.086^a |
| N. cigarettes/day, among ever-smokers, mean±SD | 14.8±10.3 | 13.4±11.2 | – | 0.335a | 13.7±9.29 | 15.8±11.2 | – | 0.451a |
| ≥20 years ever-smokers among all subjects, n (%) | 36 (30.0) | 18 (15.0) | 2.43 (1.29–4.58) | 0.005 | 21 (40.4) | 15 (22.1) | 2.39 (1.08–5.31) | 0.030 |
| Coffee drinker daily, n (%) | 110 (91.7) | 112 (93.3) | 0.79 (0.30–2.06) | 0.624 | 46 (88.5) | 64 (94.1) | 0.48 (0.13–1.79) | 0.327 |
| Coffee cups/day >3, n (%) | 20 (16.7) | 17 (14.2) | 1.21 (0.60–2.45) | 0.592 | 11 (21.1) | 9 (13.2) | 1.76 (0.67–4.62) | 0.249 |
a Two-tailed Mann-Whitney U-test. bOR uncountable because one of the compared group had zero subject. Significant differences were indicated in bold, tendencies were evidenced with superscript ^.