Abstract
Prior to 2011 legislation prohibiting children from using commercial sunbeds, the prevalence of sunbed use in 15- to 17-year-olds in some areas in England was as high as 50%. Despite significant decreases since 2011, children today still practice indoor tanning. We estimated current sunbed use in 11- to 17-year-olds in England, the number of available commercial sunbed units, and the associated cost of a ‘buy-back’ scheme to remove commercial sunbeds under a potential future policy to ban sunbeds. We undertook a calibration approach based on published prevalence rates in English adults and other sources. Internet searches were undertaken to estimate the number of sunbed providers in Greater Manchester, then we extrapolated this to England. Estimated mean prevalence of sunbed use was 0.6% for 11- to 14-year-olds and 2.5% for 15- to 17-year-olds, equating to 62,130 children using sunbeds in England. A predicted 2958 premises and 17,865 sunbeds exist nationally and a ‘buy-back’ scheme would cost approximately GBP 21.7 million. Public health concerns remain greatest for 11- to 17-year-olds who are particularly vulnerable to developing skin cancers after high ultraviolet exposure.
Highlights
Emitted ultraviolet radiation (UVR) from indoor tanning devices such as sunbeds or tanning lamps can reach high to extreme levels [1]
To ensure the 11- to 17-year-old model was consistent with sunbed prevalence estimates for young adults [15], a surge in incidence was modelled at the 18-year threshold when sunbeds become legal in England using a one-off multiplier and the resulting young adult prevalence compared with published estimates
Our study showed that the current prevalence of sunbed use among children in England may be around 1.5% and around 18,000 commercial sunbed units are likely to be in operation, awaiting uptake of indoor tanning when these children turn 18 years old
Summary
Emitted ultraviolet radiation (UVR) from indoor tanning devices such as sunbeds or tanning lamps can reach high to extreme levels [1]. To protect children from harmful exposure to UVR and prevent keratinocyte skin cancers and melanomas, England prohibited commercial sunbed use among under 18-year-olds in 2011. Over 50% of children using sunbeds reported they had suffered burns and 25% reported unsupervised use [2]. Since the 2009 classification of indoor tanning devices as carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) [3], over 20 countries have legislated against indoor tanning in persons aged under 18 years (or lower) [4]. Other countries have introduced various restrictions such as preventing indoor tanning by UV-sensitive people, banning unsupervised access, licensing indoor tanning establishments, mandating operator training and taxing indoor tanning sessions
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