Sunscreen is just for the beach, right? Not according to a study
comparing sun exposure during leisure and work activities recently
released by UBC researchers.
Jean Shoveller, research associate at the Institute of Health Promotion
Research; Asst. Prof. Jason Rivers, Dermatology; and Assoc. Prof.
Chris Lovato, Health Care and Epidemiology, found that a third of
the outdoor workers surveyed did not take any precautions to protect
themselves from the sun. A third did not wear hats, two-thirds did
not use sunscreen and half did not wear sunglasses or avoid the
sun during the peak ultraviolet (UV) hours from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The researchers conducted the first national survey on the issue.
Results show that those who work outdoors are at high risk for skin
cancer and need to protect themselves.
“Sun exposure is an emerging public health issue, but many people
just aren’t in the habit of protecting themselves,” says Shoveller.
“We’d like to see it become as automatic as doing up your seatbelt.”
Besides sunburns, which are linked to melanoma — the most serious
form of skin cancer — an accumulated exposure over time is also
a risk, Shoveller says. Sixty thousand new cases of skin cancer
will be diagnosed in Canada alone this year with the incidence of
melanoma rising dramatically. In the 1930s, one in 1,500 people
died of the disease; now one in 90 people are at risk.
Shoveller and Lovato presented the study results this month at
the Fifth National Health Promotion Research Conference in Halifax.
UBC is sharing the data with health organizations and universities
across Canada to help create programs to prevent skin cancer.
The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute of Canada,
the Canadian Dermatology Association and Environment Canada.
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