Casualties of the sun.

A retrospective review was carried out of all sunburn related attendances, during the periods 1/6/94-31/8/94 and 1/6/95-31/8/95, at the four A&E departments and at one of the general practices within the Northern Health and Social Services Board area. Four hundred and thirty patients had attended. The modal age group was 16-30 years. More males presented than females. Within the sexes more males presented in the under 16 years and over 30 years age group, while females were more common in the 16-30 years age group. There was documentation of blisters in 30% of patients. Those with blisters were more likely to be under 16 years and male. In females the most and least commonly affected areas correlated with the most and least commonly affected areas for cutaneous malignant melanoma. In these days of limited resources it is important to use epidemiological data such as this in order to contribute to the development of health promotion programmes and campaigns.