Table I.

Studies of melanoma among military personnel

Study	Study population	Design	No. of subjects/No. of controls	Control strategy	Major findings	Reported limitations
Brown et al (1984)8	Men of draft age (18–31 y) during World War II (1941–1945) in the Melanoma Cooperative Group at NYU SOM database	Case-control	89/5	Age-matched male NYU dermatology patients with cutaneous problems, excluding malignant melanoma	34% of patients with melanoma lived in tropics vs 6% of control subjects	N/A
Page et al (2000)23	White male former World War II POWs	Cohort	5524/3713	White male non-POW World War II veterans	No significant differences in melanoma rates	- Low sample size with low melanoma mortality risk of 2 per 1000 veterans - Survivor bias
Zhou et al (2010)24	White active duty military personnel (ACTUR) with diagnosis of melanoma from 1990 to 2004	Cohort	1545/33612	General US population (SEER-9 registries) with diagnosis of melanoma from 1990 to 2004	- Higher melanoma rates among military personnel >45 y old - Highest melanoma incidence in Air Force branch	- Limited case reporting to ACTUR and SEER databases - Data consolidation differences between ACTUR and SEER - Military selection bias for young, healthy people
Lea et al (2014)25	Active duty military (ACTUR and MDR) 18–56 y of age with diagnosis of melanoma from 2001 to 2007	Cohort	1105/46082	General US population (SEER-17 registries) with diagnosis of melanoma from 2001 to 2007	- Melanoma incidence rate was 62% greater in active military personnel - Highest melanoma incidence among Air Force branch	- Limited case reporting to ACTUR, MDR, and SEER databases - Limited interpretation of nonwhite patients because of small sample size - Potential increased detection of melanoma through military screening

ACTUR, Active Central Tumor Registry; MDR, Medical Device Reporting; N/A, not available; NYU SOM, New York University School of Medicine; POW, prisoner of war; SEER, Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results.