TABLE 5.
Spearman correlation coefficients for answers on tendency of skin to burn and selected measures of sun exposure between baseline and follow-up questions, Queensland study of Melanoma: Environmental and Genetics Associations (Q-MEGA), Queensland, Australia, 1987–2005
| Number of categories used for the assessment of repeatability | QFMP* (n=1,380) | Children (n=46) | Adolescents (n=142) | Men (n=71) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||||||
| Spearman Correlation | p value | Spearman Correlation | p value | Spearman Correlation | p value | Spearman Correlation | p value | ||
| Tendency of skin to burn | 4 (children) 3 (men) |
NA* | NA* | 0.19 | 0.026 | NA* | NA* | 0.51 | <0.0001 |
| Number of sunburns† Before age 20 Since age 20 |
4 (children) 5 (adolescents, men) |
NA* | NA* | 0.34 | 0.023 | 0.50 | <0.0001 | 0.48 0.37 |
<0.0001 0.002 |
| Number of peeling sunburns‡ | 4 (children) 5 (adolescents) |
NA* | NA* | 0.25 | 0.096 | 0.43 | <0.0001 | NA* | NA* |
| Number of blistering sunburns‡ | 4 (children) 5 (adolescents) |
NA* | NA* | 0.46 | 0.001 | 0.36 | <0.0001 | NA* | NA* |
| Total number of sunburns | 4 | 0.46 | <0.0001 | NA* | NA* | NA* | NA* | NA* | NA* |
| Number of moles§ | 4 | 0.55 | <0.0001 | 0.36 | 0.015 | 0.45 | <0.0001 | NA* | NA* |
| Total freckling in summer | 3 | 0.50 | <0.0001 | NA* | NA* | NA* | NA* | NA* | NA* |
QFMP, Queensland Familial Melanoma Project; NA, not applicable.
For men over 50 years old, responses to the baseline question on number of sunburns were correlated with responses to two questions at follow-up: number of sunburns before and since age 20 years.
For children and adolescents, responses at baseline were correlated with the number of sunburns before age 20 years at follow-up.
Baseline and follow-up questions on number of moles refer to the number of moles at the time of each survey; thus, responses referred to two time periods.