Among U.S. high school students, males and non-Whites are at greatest risk for not using sunscreen, a cornerstone of skin cancer prevention, according to results from a systematic review.
"We know that skin cancer is one of the most common malignancies in the world, and sun protection methods such as sunscreen make it highly preventable," first author Carly R. Stevens, a student at Tulane University, New Orleans, said in an interview. "This study demonstrates the adolescent populations that are most vulnerable to sun damage and how we can help mitigate their risk of developing skin cancer through education methods, such as Sun Protection Outreach Teaching by Students."
Ms. Stevens and coauthors presented the findings during a poster session at the annual meeting of the Society for Pediatric Dermatology.
To investigate predictors of sunscreen use among high school students, they searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science using the terms ("sunscreen" or "SPF" or "sun protection") and ("high school" or "teen" or "teenager" or "adolescent") and limited the analysis to English studies reporting data on sunscreen use in U.S. high school students up to November 2021.
A total of 20 studies were included in the final review. The study populations ranged in number from 208 to 24,645.
