Association between prescribed antidepressant medication and skin cancer (melanoma, basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma) risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Skin Health Dis · 2026 · PMC13220031 · PMID 42222680

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showed a trendno p-value reported

Although the lower exposure quartiles (Q1–Q3) showed a trend towards a protective effect, their pooled estimates were not statistically significant.

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did not reach statistical significanceno p-value reported

A similar pattern has been reported for other drug classes; for instance, a systematic review of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs also found a trend towards reduced skin cancer risk, although it did not reach statistical significance. 28 Another possible explanation for the reduced skin cancer risk among users of antidepressants found in our study may be related to behavioural patterns associated with depression, such as reduced time spent outdoors, which could result in lower UVR exposure, rather than reflecting a direct pharmacological effect.

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Quoted from the open-access full text in Europe PMC under the licence the publisher applied. The sentence is reproduced exactly as published; the emphasis is ours.