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Sena JS et al .
280 Rev Assoc Med Bras 2016; 62(3):280-286
REVIEW ARTICLE
Occupational skin cancer: Systematic review
Jéssica Suellen Sena¹* , Régio José Santiago Girão², Sionara Melo Figueiredo de Carvalho³, Rosielly Melo T avares¹,
Fernando Luiz Affonso Fonseca4, Patrícia Barros Aquino Silva¹, Maria Clara Fortes Portela Barbosa¹
1Medical Student, Faculdade Integral Diferencial (Facid/DeVry), Teresina, PI, Brazil
2MSc in Health Sciences from Faculdade de Medicina do ABC (FMABC). Dermatology Lecturer of the Facid/DeVry, Teresina, PI, Brazil
3MSc in Health Sciences from FMABC. Oncology Lecturer of the Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), Fortaleza, PI, Brazil
4Post-doctoral from Instituto Israelita de Ensino e Pesquisa Albert Einstein and the Roche Center for Medical Genomics. Adjunct Professor III, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, and Lecturer of Pharmaceutical Sciences
and Environmental Health Management, FMABC, Santo André, SP, Brazil
Summary
Study conducted at Faculdade
Integral Diferencial (Facid/DeVry),
Teresina, PI, Brazil
Article received: 9/25/2014
Accepted for publication: 5/25/2015
*Correspondence:
Address: Rua Veterinário Bugyja
Brito, 1354,
Horto Florestal
Teresina, PI – Brazil
Postal code: 64052-410
Objective: To analyze the epidemiological profile, risk factors in the workplace
environment and prevention methods for professionals at risk of skin cancer.
Method: A systematic review of articles on occupational skin cancer, published
in the Lilacs, Scielo, Medline and Cochrane Library from January 1st, 2008, to De-
cember 31st, 2013, was performed. The search included the following terms: “neo-
plasias cutâneas” (DeCS), “exposição ocupacional” (DeCS), “epidemiologia” (DeCS)
as well as the keyword “prevenção”, and their equivalents in English.
Results: After analyzing the titles and summaries of articles, the search strate-
gy resulted in 83 references, of which 22 articles met the eligibility criteria.
Discussion: We found that sun exposure is the main occupational risk factor for
skin cancer, causing outdoor workers to be the most vulnerable to developing oc-
cupational skin cancer. Professionals with low levels of education and European
descent are at increased risk of developing this cancer.
Conclusion: Outdoor workers are more vulnerable to developing occupation-
al skin cancer, estimating that professionals with low level of education and Eu-
ropean descent are at increased risk of developing this cancer. Therefore, com-
panies need to invest more in the health of workers by providing protective
equipment and thus preventing occupational skin cancer.
Keywords: skin cancers, occupational exposure, disease prevention, epidemiology.
Introduction
Occupational cancer occurs when professionals are ex-
posed to certain substances or a combination of these at
work. This is caused most often due to misinformation
about the health risks, favoring greater exposure to these
substances inadvertently.1
Workplaces generally have a greater concentration of
carcinogens than other environments outside of work.2
In view of this, exposure to numerous risk factors both
at work and in the non-occupational environment as well
as favorable climatic conditions may favor the emergence
of skin cancer.3-5
The main risk factor associated with the development
of this neoplasm is exposure to UV radiation. It causes
chronic cutaneous photoaging as well as having a carci-
nogenic effect on the skin in two ways: directly, when it
acts directly on the cell, causing DNA mutation, and in-
directly, by causing induction of T lymphocytes.3-5
Interest in this research occurred due to the fact that
skin cancer may be the neoplasm that is most incident
and avoidable in Brazil, as well as the major association
with certain professional activities owed to exposure to
numerous risk factors at work in a prolonged or cumu-
lative manner.1,2,5,12
As such, the objectives of the study were: To analyze
the epidemiological profile, the risk factors in the work
environment and the prevention methods for profession-
als at risk of skin cancer. Furthermore, the sociodemo-
graphic variable of the professionals at risk was verified,
identifying the professionals related to the risk of acquir-
ing skin cancer and effective protection methods.
Method
A systematic review of the scientific literature relating to
the topic of occupational skin cancer was conducted. The
methodology used was based on studies located in the