Many think they're in no real danger, survey finds
MONDAY, Aug. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Hispanic-American teens are more likely than their white peers to take risks that boost their odds for skin cancer, a new survey finds.
Reporting in the August issue of the journal Archives of Dermatology, a team at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine surveyed 369 high school students (221 white Hispanics and 148 white non-Hispanics).
They found that Hispanic teens were more likely to use tanning beds, less likely to consider themselves at risk for skin cancer, and less likely to protect themselves from the sun.
Compared to white non-Hispanics, white Hispanics were:
There's a real need to improve participation of white Hispanic students in skin cancer prevention programs, the authors concluded.
Exposure to the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays is a major risk factor for skin cancers, and a person's majority of lifetime UV exposure occurs by age 18, the Miami team noted. White Hispanics have a lower rate of skin cancer than white non-Hispanics, but white Hispanics are more likely to be diagnosed with more advanced skin cancer.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration offers sun safety tips.
-- Robert Preidt
SOURCE: JAMA/Archives journals, news release, Aug. 20, 2007