Men are twice as likely as women to not protect their skin in the sun, despite more men dying from melanoma than women, according to research due to be released at the British Association of Dermatologists annual conference in Glasgow next month.

The shocking survey of 1213 adults formed part of the Northern Ireland Omnibus Survey published in September 2008, a regular survey of the lifestyle and views of the people of Northern Ireland*.

It also found that people in their teens and early twenties are less likely than any other age group to use sun protection, despite increasing numbers of melanoma being diagnosed in this age group.

One in ten people surveyed (10%) take no protective measures at all against sun exposure (compared to 8% in 2000).

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A new survey from the Stanford University School of Medicine suggests that a significant number of Asian Americans living in California adopt unhealthy sun-exposure behaviors as they become more westernized. The findings underscore a need for increased skin-health awareness on the part of primary care physicians, dermatologists and people of Asian ancestry, who may incorrectly assume that pigmented skin and hair protect against skin cancer.

“Skin screening and self-examination recommendations, which are often targeted more to people with fair skin, should definitely include different ethnic groups,” said dermatologist Anne Chang, MD, an instructor at the medical school, who noted that skin cancer rates have been reported to be rising significantly in Asians living in Singapore and Japan. “Asian Americans shouldn’t derive a false sense of security from the presence of skin and hair pigmentation.”

Chang and her colleagues surveyed the attitudes and behaviors of 546 Asian Americans in the study, which will be published in the May issue of the Archives of Dermatology. Study participants filled out an Internet-based questionnaire asking, among other things, about their skin type, their degree of westernization and the amount of time spent tanning outdoors or in tanning booths. More than 95 percent of the responses came from Northern California.

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