ACS sun exposure survey
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
Majority of youths surveyed (72.2%) report experiencing at least one sunburn between July and October 1998, according to an abstract released by the American Cancer Society on June 18. The study, by Kourtney Johnston Davis, PhD, American Cancer Society, et al., is based on 1,196 paired interviews with adolescents aged 11 to 18 and their parents. "Among youth who had at least one sunburn, 38.2% reported using sunscreen lotion with SPF 15+ prior to receiving the sunburn," the abstract notes. Those age 11 to 13 were "more likely" than older teenagers to report "often" or "always" wearing SPF 15+ sunscreen lotion (42.1% versus 24.4%), yet were more likely to report having had a sunburn that summer, the researchers report. "Despite frequent use of SPF 15+ sunscreen lotion, these results suggest that sunburns are highly prevalent among youth," the abstract concludes. Future youth education efforts "must focus on the spectrum of preventive behaviors and the limitations of sunscreen lotion," according to the researchers