DENVER — Less than 12% of women and less than 7% of men who tan indoors are regular users of sunscreen, according to a national survey of white adults.
Overall, women who use tanning parlors have a better understanding of the associated risks than men who do so. Of women who tan indoors, 38% are aware that the practice increases their skin cancer risk, compared with 11% of men, Kelvin Choi reported at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Similarly, 27% of women who tan indoors see themselves as being at high risk of skin cancer, and another 17% see themselves as at moderate risk. In contrast, only 3% of men who tan indoors see themselves as at high risk, and 4% see themselves as at moderate risk, said Mr. Choi of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Most studies on indoor tanning practices have focused on adolescents and young women. Addressing this limitation, Mr. Choi and his associates analyzed data from the National Cancer Institute 2005 Health Information National Trends Survey to look at knowledge and attitudes regarding skin cancer prevention among a randomly selected subset that included 2,869 white men and women aged 18-64 years.
Overall, 18% of the women and 6% of men reported tanning indoors within the prior year. Indoor tanning was most popular in the Midwest; women living there were 2.5 times more likely to use tanning beds than those in the West, where the use was least frequent. Midwestern men were 2.9-fold more likely to tan indoors than Westerners.
In the peak age category for indoor tanning—18- to 24-year-olds—36% of women and 12% of men reported having used a tanning bed in the past year. Individuals with at least some college education and who earned more than $35,000 annually were more likely to tan indoors. Men living in a metropolitan area were 3.3-fold more likely to tan indoors than those living elsewhere. In contrast, women were equally likely to tan indoors regardless of geographic area.
Source Elsevier Global Medical News