One-fourth of melanoma survivors skip sunscreen

A quarter of patients who survive melanoma don’t use sunscreen when spending extended time outdoors, according to findings reported at the American Association of Cancer Research meeting.

In a poster presentation at the meeting held in Washington, study author Anees Chagpar, M.D., associate professor of surgery, Yale School of Medicine, reported that of 171 melanoma survivors who participated in the 2010 National Health Interview Survey, 27.3 percent never put on sunscreen when spending time outside in the sun for more than an hour.

Additionally, 15.4 percent of skin cancer survivors rarely or never sought shade from the sun, and 2.1 percent used an indoor tanning bed in the previous year, Yale News reports.

“It’s incredibly disturbing that even after getting the disease once, some survivors continue these practices that would put them at greater risk of getting it again,” Dr. Chagpar stated.

Co-author Susan Mayne, professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health and Yale Cancer Center, said the results demonstrate a need for “more effective interventions” to prevent sun and UV exposure among survivors of skin cancer.