Dexter, Ben, Smith, Annika, King, Rachel, Downs, Nathan J., Nikles, Catherine Jane, Parisi, Alfio V., Ho, Yik-Hong, and Harrison, Simone Lee (2023) Serial Cross-Sectional Observations of Sun-Protective Behaviors at an Annual Outdoor Motorsport Event in Tropical Queensland, Australia. Photochemistry and Photobiology, 99 (5). pp. 1352-1356.

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Abstract

Skin cancer, the most prevalent cancer in Caucasians resid-ing at low latitudes, can primarily be prevented by avoiding overexposure to sunlight. Serial cross-sectional observations were conducted at an outdoor motorsport event held in Townsville, Queensland each July (Southern winter) to determine whether sun-protection habits changed over time. Most (71.1%) of the 1337 attendees observed (97.6% lightly pigmented skin, 64.0% male) wore a hat (any style shading the face), while few (18.5%) wore three-quarter or full-lengthsleeves. While hat-wearing rates (any style) were similar in 2009 (326, 72.6%) and 2013 (625, 70.4%), the use of sun-protective styles (wide-brimmed/bucket/legionnaires) decreased from 29.2% to 18.6% over the same period, primarily because the use of sun-protective hats halved (from 28.7% to 14.0%) among females, while decreasing from 29.4% to 21.1% in males. Although relatively few individuals wore sun-protective (three-quarter-length or full-length) sleeves regardless of year (OR=0.117, P<0.0001), encouragingly, the use of sun-protective sleeves more than doubled between 2009 (10.5%) and 2013 (22.5%). Interestingly females, albeit the minority, at this sporting event were less likely to wear a hat (OR=0.473, P<0.0001) than males. These findings highlight the need for continued momentum toward skin cancer primary prevention through sun protection with a dedicated focus on outdoor sporting settings.

Item ID:	77399
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1751-1097
Keywords:	skin cancer; sunlight; clothing; hats; sun protection; sunscreen; sunburn; UVR exposure; observation; photo-damage; melanoma; keratinocyte cancer; non-melanoma skin cancer;
Copyright Information:	© 2023 The Authors. Photochemistry and Photobiology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Photobiology. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Date Deposited:	07 Feb 2023 03:38
FoR Codes:	42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4202 Epidemiology > 420201 Behavioural epidemiology @ 70% 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420603 Health promotion @ 30%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200401 Behaviour and health @ 70% 20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200412 Preventive medicine @ 30%
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