Abstract
BackgroundOutdoor workers are at high risk of harmful ultraviolet radiation exposure and are identified as an at risk group for the development of skin cancer. This systematic evidence based review provides an update to a previous review published in 2007 about interventions for the prevention of skin cancer in outdoor workers.ResultsThis review includes interventions published between 2007-2012 and presents findings about sun protection behaviours and/or objective measures of skin cancer risk. Six papers met inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Large studies with extended follow-up times demonstrated the efficacy of educational and multi-component interventions to increase sun protection, with some higher use of personal protective equipment such as sunscreen. However, there is less evidence for the effectiveness of policy or specific intervention components.ConclusionsFurther research aimed at improving overall attitudes towards sun protection in outdoor workers is needed to provide an overarching framework.
Highlights
Outdoor workers are at high risk of harmful ultraviolet radiation exposure and are identified as an at risk group for the development of skin cancer
Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs), such as basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are more common but less likely to metastasize, with only a small proportion leading to mortality [1]
NMSCs lead to high patient morbidity and financial burden on healthcare systems in Australia, for example, over 700,000 NMSCs were treated in 2010, resulting in a cost to the health system of around $511 million [2]
Summary
Outdoor workers are at high risk of harmful ultraviolet radiation exposure and are identified as an at risk group for the development of skin cancer. This systematic evidence based review provides an update to a previous review published in 2007 about interventions for the prevention of skin cancer in outdoor workers. Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs), such as basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are more common but less likely to metastasize, with only a small proportion leading to mortality [1]. The most important contributing factor to skin cancer development is exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) coupled with a fair skin type [1,3,4].
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