Abstract
In this ecological study, we drew upon recently published melanoma prevalence data, and compared them with historical market data and published socio-economic data to test for an association between historical sunscreen sales (1997-1999) and recent melanoma incidences (2008 and 2012) in 24 countries in Northern Europe. We also explored associations between current melanoma incidences and historical data on the following socio-demographic indicators: income, urbanization, and population aging. Melanoma incidences were higher in high-income countries where sales of sunscreen were also higher. Our results show that, at the population level, income was significantly associated with melanoma incidences, β = 0.0003, t(19) = 3.104, p < .006, and that increased sunscreen sales has not prevented higher income populations from being at higher risk of melanoma.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | SAGE Open |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 18 Nov 2014 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 18 Dec 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License(http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm).
Keywords
- public health
- health communication
- melanoma
- disposable income
- sunscreen