Title
Youth access to indoor tanning salons in urban versus rural/suburban communities
UMMS Affiliation
UMass Worcester Prevention Research Center; Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, Department of Medicine
Publication Date
2018-3
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Behavioral Medicine | Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms | Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Dermatology | Preventive Medicine | Public Health | Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases
Abstract
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Research suggests that youth proximity to tanning salons may promote use; however, little is known about tanning salon proximity to schools. We assessed the proximity of tanning salons to schools in urban versus rural/suburban communities across Worcester County, Massachusetts (population > 800K). To put findings in context, we compared school proximity to tanning salons to school proximity to McDonald's restaurants, a large franchise that also caters to young people.
MATERIALS and METHODS: Accessibility was measured by ArcGIS 10.2 Network Analyzer (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA) and the most current road network data layer from Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT).
RESULTS: A total of 145 schools were observed in the study area, of which about 39% of schools were within 1 mile from a tanning salon. Urban schools (53.41%) had a higher proportion within 1 mile of a tanning salon than rural/suburban schools (17.54%; P < .001). More schools (39.31%) were within 1 mile of a tanning salon than schools within 1 mile of a McDonald's (22.70%; P < .001).
CONCLUSIONS: Schools may be particularly impactful for implementing skin cancer prevention programing.
Keywords
communities, geographic information systems, high schools, indoor tanning, skin cancer
DOI of Published Version
10.1111/phpp.12364
Source
Photodermatol Photoimmunol Photomed. 2018 Mar;34(2):112-116. doi: 10.1111/phpp.12364. Epub 2017 Dec 12. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Photodermatology, photoimmunology and photomedicine
Related Resources
PubMed ID
29080373
Repository Citation
Nahar VK, Rosenthal M, Lemon SC, Kane KJ, Cheng J, Oleski JL, Li W, Hillhouse JJ, Pagoto SL. (2018). Youth access to indoor tanning salons in urban versus rural/suburban communities. UMass Worcester PRC Publications. https://doi.org/10.1111/phpp.12364. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/prc_pubs/75