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Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1998;152:818.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

After reading the study by Berg et al¹ in the December 1997 issue of the ARCHIVES, we contend that the authors should be more cautious in their conclusions. Based on a retrospective study of 30 cases of malignant melanoma and 120 controls matched for age, sex, and hospital, the authors conclude that there is "no significant risk of developing childhood malignant melanoma after phototherapy of the skin in neonates with hyperbilirubinemia."

Given the null findings, the possibility of a type II statistical error exists. As a result, a power calculation could have been included to address this point.² The current sample sizes provide sufficient power to detect an increased risk of malignant melanoma only when the rate of phototherapy in the cases is 30% or greater.

In the conclusions, the authors also suggest a new hypothesis: that phototherapy could have a protective effect. However, given the 9% rate of phototherapy . . . [Full Text of this Article]