Indoor tanning by high school girls decreased from 2009 to 2013, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The overall indoor tanning rate for all high school girls dropped to about 20% in 2013, down from just over 25% in 2009. There was a significant drop in indoor tanning for non-Hispanic white girls and a slight decrease for Hispanic girls. The rate of indoor tanning for non-Hispanic black girls remained steady.
Decreases in indoor tanning “may be partly attributable to increased awareness of its harms,” with new or strengthened laws in 40 states having an impact as well, according to Gery P. Guy Jr., Ph.D., of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at the CDC in Atlanta.
Non-Hispanic white girls were by far the most likely to indoor tan in 2013, with nearly 31% tanning at least once in the previous year and almost 17% tanning at least 10 times in the same period. No other measured ethnic group had such high rate of usage, with only 2.5% of non-Hispanic blacks, about 8% of Hispanics, and just under 10% of non-Hispanic others engaging in indoor tanning at least once, the investigators reported (JAMA Dermatol. 2014 Dec. 23 [doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2014.4677]).
Indoor tanning by high school boys was much lower than for girls, with about 5% of all boys tanning at least once in 2013. White boys had the highest rate of measured ethnicities, but this was only at about 6%, the researchers said.
The study is based on data collected for the 2009, 2011, and 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Surveys.
