Legislation is needed to stop children using sunbeds

doi:10.1136/bmj.b4643

Published 12 November 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4643
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4643

Letters

Children and sunbeds

Legislation is needed to stop children using sunbeds

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Spence extols the joy of sunny days,¹ but sunbeds raise seriousissues. A recent meta-analysis showed sunbed use before theage of 35 was associated with an increased relative risk of75% for developing malignant melanoma (absolute risks were notrecorded).²

Cancer Research UK recently carried out two large, face to facesurveys of sunbed use in over 9000 children aged 11-17 in England.³ The first, a national prevalence study of 3101 children, establishedthat 6% of 11-17 year olds had used a sunbed, the mean age offirst use being just 14. Sunbed use was more common in olderchildren and girls (table), and in the north compared with therest of England (11% and 4% of children, respectively) and amongdeprived communities. More than a quarter (26.5% (95% confidenceinterval 20.1% to 32.8%)) said that they used a sunbed at leastonce a month.

View this table:

Use of sunbeds: . . . [Full text of this article]

Catherine S Thomson, head of statistical information¹, Chris Twelves, professor of clinical pharmacology and oncology²

¹ Cancer Research UK, Statistical Information Team, London WC2A 3PX, ² Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine and St James’s Institute of Oncology, Level 4, Bexley Wing, St James’s University Hospital, Leeds LS9 7TF

Catherine.Thomson@cancer.org.uk