Survey reveals disparities in skin cancer knowledge, protection among high schoo...( In a survey of Florida high school s...),Health

In a survey of Florida high school students, white Hispanic teens were more likely to use tanning beds and less likely to consider themselves at risk for skin cancer or protect themselves from the sun than white non-Hispanic teens, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Exposure to the suns ultraviolet (UV) rays is a major risk factor for melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, and the majority of lifetime exposure occurs by age 18, according to background information in the article. White Hispanics have a lower rate of skin cancer than white non-Hispanics, but are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage. This suggests that there are differences in knowledge and behavior related to the prevention of skin cancer in white Hispanic and white non-Hispanic populations; therefore, we hypothesize that these differences may exist in students and may be related to early acquisition of knowledge, the authors write.

Fangchao Ma, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and colleagues surveyed 369 Florida high school students (221 white Hispanics and 148 white non-Hispanics) about their skin cancer knowledge, perceived risk and sun protection behaviors. In addition, students were asked questions related to burning and tanning after sun exposure to determine their skin type.

Compared with white non-Hispanic students, white Hispanic students were:

• More likely to tan deeply (44.2 percent vs. 31 percent)

• 60 percent less likely to have heard of skin self-examination and 70 percent less likely to have been told how to perform it

• About 1.8 times as likely to never or rarely wear sun-protective clothing

• About twice as likely to never or rarely use sunscreen

• Less likely to think they had an average or above-average risk for skin cancer (23.1 percent vs. 39.9 percent)