UMass Worcester PRC Publications
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
3-2018
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, Vinayak K.; Rosenthal, Meagen; Lemon, Stephenie C.; Kane, Kevin J.; Cheng, Jie; Oleski, Jessica L.; Li, Wenjun; Hillhouse, Joel J.; and Pagoto, Sherry L., "Youth access to indoor tanning salons in urban versus rural/suburban communities" (2018). UMass Worcester PRC Publications. 75.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/prc_pubs/75
