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40% of Sunscreens Don’t Adhere to AAD Guidelines
JAMA Dermatology; ePub 2016 Jul 6; Xu, Kwa, et al
In a cohort of highly-rated sunscreen products, a significant proportion did not adhere to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) guidelines, mostly attributable to a lack of water resistance, a recent study found. The most striking variation in this cohort was price, which varied by more than 3000%. Researchers evaluated 65 products from the Amazon.com online catalog, out of a total of 6,500 products characterized as sunscreens. They found:
• Of the total number of products evaluated, the median price per ounce was $3.32 (range, $0.68 to $23.47).
• 40% did not adhere to AAD guidelines (broad spectrum, SPF ≥30, and water resistant) for sunscreens.
• Cosmetic elegance was the most cited positive feature (198 of 325 [61%] comments) on Amazon.com, followed by product performance (146 of 325 [45%] comments) and skin type compatibility (78 of 325 [24%] comments).
Citation: Xu S, Kwa M, Agarwal A, Rademaker A, Kundu RV. Sunscreen product performance and other determinants of consumer preferences. [Published online ahead of print July 6, 2016]. JAMA Dermatol. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2016.2344.