In its campaign against indoor tanning, the US government emphasized high cancer risks and found that American adults have now chosen to stay away from them.
The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed results of a survey from the National Health Interview survey covering 2010 to 2013
The study's findings were published online on July 1 in the journal JAMA Dermatology.
Gery Guy Jr., a health economist at the CDC's division of cancer prevention and control and study author said that around two million less adults are still making use of indoor tanning. He sees this as encouraging, what the risks that come with it.
To Ashani Weeraratna, an associate professor in tumor metastasis and micro-environment program at the Melanoma Research Center with the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, this has turned out to be a boost to them who work in melanoma research, as it looks like their message is starting to get through.
From 5 percent in 2010, the percentage of adults who engage in indoor tanning dropped to a little over 4 percent in 2013, in a poll of around 59,000 adults.
Since 2010, estimates of the number of adults visiting tanning salons declined to 7.8 million in women and 1.9 million in men. Indoor tanning dropped from 11percent to a little over 8 percent among those aged 18 to 29.
From 6 percent, indoor tanning in women dropped to 6.5 percent. From over two percent, indoor tanning in men dropped to 1.7 percent.
Between young and older women, there was a higher percentage in the decline of indoor tanning in college graduates than those aged 50 and above. For college graduates, percentage dropped to 45 percent, while for the older group, it dropped to 28 percent.
For the older age groups in men, frequency of indoor tanning went up to 177 percent among those aged 40 to 49, and 71 percent among those aged 50 and up. There was a significant decline of 45 percent among men who had survived a bout of cancer.
Reports say that the US government is calling out to mothers to keep their daughters away from tanning salons. Thanks to a grant from the National Institutes of Health, the government is spending about $600,000 on a project to create awareness and target moms over social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram.
