By Staff Reports
(Hawaii)– From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Nicholas Garlow with HHS HealthBeat.
Summer is going but tans seem to be staying. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at national survey data on indoor tanning among females. Researcher Gery Guy says he was surprised by how common it is:
“Nearly 1 in 3 non-Hispanic white teens engaged in indoor tanning during the year. And among young non-Hispanic white female adults between the ages of 18 and 34, 1 in 4 reported indoor tanning.”
He says over half used indoor tanning 10 or more times a year.
Guy notes that tanning, including indoor, raises the risk of skin cancer – notably melanoma, which can be fatal if not detected and treated quite early. He says melanoma rates have been going up among these women.
The study is in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
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HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Nicholas Garlow.