But, millions still putting their skin's health at risk
WebMD News from HealthDay
By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Dec. 23, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Fewer U.S. teens are using indoor tanning beds and booths, although this risky behavior remains popular with more than 1.5 million high school students, a new survey reveals.
In 2013, about 20 percent of high school girls and 5 percent of high school boys had sought out some form of indoor tanning at least once in the previous year, according to the latest poll. This represented a drop from 25 percent of girls and nearly 7 percent of boys who had done so in 2009.
At the same time, investigators found roughly 10 percent of high school girls still visited indoor tanning facilities on a frequent basis. Frequent meant more than 10 times per year. Among high school boys, 2 percent tanned indoors frequently.
"The good news is that we do see a decrease in indoor tanning among teens between 2009 and 2013," said study author Gery Guy Jr., a health economist in the division of cancer prevention and control with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"However, if you look at the people who are continuing to tan indoor we found no reduction in frequent tanning. So, in other words, those who continue to tan do it as much as ever. And that's concerning, given that not only does indoor tanning increase your risk for skin cancer, but the more you tan, the greater the risk," he said.
Guy and his colleagues report their findings in the Dec. 23 issue of JAMA Dermatology.
The report comes on the heels of a new safety advisory, issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May, requiring all tanning beds and booths to be marked with labels warning against their use by anyone under the age of 18.
However, actual age restriction regulations on indoor tanning still vary from state to state, according to the researchers.
For the new study, the investigators crunched government data collected in 2009, 2011 and 2013.
Year-to-year, the number of poll participants ranged from roughly 13,500 to 16,500. The surveys represented a national sampling of both private and public school students enrolled in grades 9 through 12.
source : Fewer U.S. Teens in Tanning Salons, Study Finds
