TANNING BEDS...MELANOMA AND OTHER BAD THINGS

In the News Updates section of the May/June edition of the AACAP News a study by Guy, et al. reported in the JAMA Dermatol (epub ahead of print) found that according to the 2009 and 2011 national Youth Risk Behaviors Survey using a representative sample of 15.5 million high school students each year that included 25,000 students who used tanning beds.  

These tanning bed users were more likely to be female, older and non-hispanic white.  Nearly 30% of 18 years of age or older of these students used tanning beds.  Among male and female students, tanning bed use was associated with increased binge drinking, unhealthy weight control practicing and having sexual intercourse.  Just among the female students, tanning bed use was associated with having sexual intercourse with four or more persons and illegal drug use.  Among male tanning bed users, they were more likely to have used steroids, smoked cigarettes daily and to have attempted suicide.  

So, it seems that there might be additional reasons to encourage our teenagers to not use tanning beds, besides the risk of melanomas.  Thus, it is important that we talk to our teenagers about tanning bed use and also that our pediatricians and family care physicians also ask about the use of tanning beds.  Of course, it is also important that we remind our adult children about the risks of tanning bed use.