Research articleFactors associated with sunburn in white children aged 6 months to 11 years
Introduction
Sun exposure is the primary risk factor for skin cancer.1 Evidence suggests that sun exposure leading to sunburn, including a history of sunburn at younger ages, increases the risk of melanoma1, 2, 3, 4 and basal cell carcinoma.5, 6 While squamous cell carcinomas are generally considered to be associated with chronic sun exposure, there is some evidence for an increased risk with sunburn as well.7, 8
Few estimates are available on the sunburn experience among U.S. children; 28% to 53% of children were found to have a history of sunburn9, 10 and 13% to have had a sunburn during a summer week.11 In Europe, 48% to 54% of children were found to have a history of sunburn12, 13; estimates from New Zealand and Australia range from 7% to 15% for sunburn during the past week or weekend.14, 15 While the history of sunburns may measure some level of risk for skin cancer, it also reflects lack of effective protection from sun exposure. Generally, protection from sun exposure is reported to be high for children16, 17, 18; however, it is unknown how effective protection is in preventing sunburn and ultimately decreasing the risk of skin cancer.
This study was conducted to determine the experience of sunburn and factors associated with sunburn among white U.S. children aged 6 months to 11 years. Since African-American children and children of other nonwhite races have a much lower risk of sunburn because of increased pigment in the skin and a much lower lifetime risk of skin cancer,19 the focus of this study was on white children.
Section snippets
Study population
The target population for this survey consisted of parents, guardians, or primary care-givers, such as step-, foster-, or grandparents (henceforth referred to as “parents”), of children aged 6 months to 11 years. Parents were recruited by contacting households with telephones in the contiguous United States. A household was defined as a place of residence for one or more people. After an introduction, any adult answering the telephone was asked whether or not an eligible child lived in the
Results
Of the 1052 parents, most (873, 83.1%) indicated that they were the mothers of the children, and 177 (16.9%) indicated that they were the fathers. This information was unknown for two parents. The median age of the parents was 37 years, with a range from 18 years to 93 years. The median age of the children was 6 years. There were 523 boys and 529 girls.
A total of 469 of the 1052 children experienced a sunburn within the past year. The estimated weighted proportion of U.S. white children who had
Discussion
Our results show that a large proportion of U.S. white children experienced at least one sunburn during the past year, similar to findings from Canada (45% of children sunburned during the summer).23 Our results are also within the range of findings from Europe, New Zealand, and Australia, where 29% to 61% of children had a sunburn in the previous summer.24, 25, 26 Jarret et al.27 found that 38% of British children had a sunburn during the previous year. Our results for sunburn during the past
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