Drivers for Sun Protection in Black South Africans. (19th February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Diffey, Brian; Wallace, Melissa; Mistri, Preethi; Wernecke, Bianca; Wright, Caradee Y.
• Is Part Of: Photochemistry and photobiology. Volume 96:Number 4(2020)
• Page Start: 943
• Page End: 944
• Publication Date: 2020-02-19
• Subjects: Photochemistry -- Periodicals; Light -- Physiological effect -- Periodicals; 541.35
• DOI: 10.1111/php.13195
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0031-8655

Abstract

Abstract: Sun protection behavior studies are almost exclusively carried out in populations with fair skin for the obvious reason that people with unpigmented skin are more susceptible to the health impacts of excess solar ultraviolet radiation exposure. In a dataset of 1271 Black South Africans, we analyzed factors related to sun protection applied when spending time outdoors including awareness of skin cancer, gender, age and Living Standards Measure (LSM) where 1–4 equate to the lowest, 5–7 intermediate and 8–10 the highest LSM status. The most important driver for Black South Africans to use sun protection was whether they were aware of skin cancer (OR: 2.6 for those who were aware versus those who were not, P < 0.0001). Sunscreen was preferred by respondents in LSM 8‐10 whereas people in the lowest group (LSM 1‐4) favored shade, umbrellas and hats. One in two respondents claimed to use some form of sun protection, which appears to be higher than deeply pigmented populations in other countries. Abstract : Sun protection use among individuals with deeply pigmented skin is not well understood. We analyzed 1271 participant responses from a survey among Black South Africans. The main driver for using sun protection was awareness of skin cancer. Different sun protection modalities were used by respondents and when categorized by Living Standard Measure groups in low (1–4; dotted line), intermediate (5–7; dashed line) and high (8–10; solid line) patterns emerged. Most striking was the difference in use of sunscreen among the high and low groups.