Actinic Cheilitis Prevalence In Workers Overexposed To Sunlight, Concepción, Chile.

Objective: To Determine the prevalence of the premalignant lesion of the lip, Actinic Cheilitis (AC), in workers overexposed to sunlight in the city of Concepcion, including the Open Air Market (OAM), Vega Monumental, and the General Cemetery of Concepción (GCC).
Methodology: One hundred workers (76 from OAM and 24 from the GCC) were examined for the presence or absence of 14 signs of AC. Ages ranged from 30 to 60 years and the sample included 74 males and 26 females. Results were analyzed for statistical significance with Fisher´s exact test, program JMP-IN 4.04.
Results: A 73% (73/100) of the workers presented signs and symptoms of AC. Most of them presented skin type III (56.2%), which was also the most common skin type in workers with normal lip (66.7%). The daily average hours of sunlight exposure was 10.3 for the OAM workers and 8.1 hours for GCC workers. No significant differences were found in the frequency of AC between females and males, and the frequency of AC was independent of the age of the workers.
Conclusions: The results showed that 7 out of 10 workers overexposed to sunlight presented AC, independent of gender, age and skin type, suggesting a need to implement preventive and educational programs, that could contribute reduce AC prevalence.