"Buen Rayito Study": awareness, attitudes and behavior of teenagers to sunlight through a web based system in Spain.

BACKGROUND

The exponential rise in cutaneous cancers underscores the need to promote primary prevention, emphasising exposure to ultraviolet radiation as the main modifiable risk factor. Children and adolescents are especially vulnerable to radiation.

OBJECTIVES

Our objectives were to determine the knowledge and behavior of a Spanish adolescent population in relation to sun exposure thorough a web-based system.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included 1525 school students aged 12-15 yrs. Students completed the survey via the website, with 23 questions and three information blocks on: physical characteristics and general state of health; sun exposure habits and effects; and knowledge of the sun and its effects.

RESULTS

Adolescents displayed a good level of knowledge on the risks of sun exposure, but this did not correlate with healthy sun protection habits. 63.1% of students reported suffering from sunburn in the previous summer and 15.8% reported sunburn with blisters.Sunburn risk increased with the frequency of sun exposure between 12 and 6 pm "always or almost always" (OR of 1.29; p = 0.001), the use of sun protection cream (OR of 1.38; p = 0.034) and decreased with physical sun protection measures (shade) with an OR of 0.85 (p = 0.032) in a multivariate study.

LIMITATION: The retrospective gathering of sunburn data is a study limitation because of the possibility of a recall bias and potential inter-individual variation in the concept of burn.

CONCLUSION

The high percentage of sunburns suffered by adolescents in the previous summer underscores the need for skin cancer preventive programs.