A recent study in California revealed that gay and bisexual men who take part in indoor tanning are six times more likely to develop skin cancer than heterosexual men.
Dr. Matthew Mansh from Stanford University and his colleagues discovered that indoor tanning is more popular among gay and bisexual men than it is with other sexual minorities.
In the study published in the journal JAMA Dermatology, researchers found that skin cancer rates among gay and bisexual men ranged between 4.3 percent and 6.7 percent, while the rates among heterosexual men ranged between 2.7 percent and 3.2 percent.
The study also discovered that lesbians and bisexual women were 43 to 46 percent as likely as heterosexual women to go indoor tanning. Almost 56 percent of the reported non-melanoma skin cancers were also discovered to be the most common type among straight women.
The study included responses from about 3,000 lesbian and bisexual women, about 3,100 gay and bisexual men, about 78,000 heterosexual men, and about 108,000 heterosexual women.
Another group of researchers affiliated with Mansh thus incorporated online advertisement within a skin cancer prevention effort to better educate consumers.
Through a public health intervention, the researchers made use of Google AdWords, an online paidsearch service, to spread cancer prevention awareness.
In a different study issued in the same journal, consumers who searched for keywords such as 'tanning', 'tanning bed', and 'tanning salon' were exposed to three-line, 105-character advertisements that focused on the risks of skin cancer caused by the indoor tanning.
"We found that it is possible to use online advertising to reach a large, targeted audience with specific health messages." said Dr. Eleni Linos, dermatologist and lead researcher from the University of San Francisco.
Linos also explained that the platform is an incredible opportunity to provide cost-effective public health messages. "Even beyond skin cancer, our approach could be used for other major public health issues, such as tobacco control or mental health problems," added Linos.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explained that indoor tanning is still in no way safer than unprotected outdoor sun exposure. Both activities can cause premature aging of the skin, spotting, wrinkling and skin cancer which now affects over 5 million Americans every year.
Photo : Evil Erin | Flickr
