Aussie females more cautious to skin cancer risks from sun exposure

16-Mar-2011 - Last updated on 16-Mar-2011 at 17:08 GMT

A study carried out by consumer satisfaction organization Canstar Blue, women are more likely to protect themselves against skin cancer by wearing sunscreen every day than men are.

Despite the country’s soaring temperatures and year round exposure to the sun, women are reported to be almost twice as likely to put product on every day.

The study, carried out on 2,500 Australians, showed that 27 per cent of women surveyed wear sunscreen daily whereas only 15 percent of males admitted to doing so.

However, in terms of the nation as a whole, Canstar Blue commented that there is still a lot of education and awareness needed when it comes to sun protection.

Australia’s incidence of skin cancer is reported to be nearly four times that of the US, Canada or the UK, and Canstar suggests this may be down to the tanning habits of the Australians.

The survey asked whether the participants liked to tan, and of those that said they did, a quarter of them said they would expose themselves to the sun without sunscreen protection.

Too much exposure to the sun can cause the deadliest form of skin cancer melanoma. However 30 percent of Australian men stated that tanning through sun exposure was their preference as opposed to self-tanners, whilst 21 percent of females agreed.

Study: sunscreen can help prevent melanoma

According to results from a study published in December last year by the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR), the use of sunscreen can prevent melanoma.

In this study, 1,621 randomly selected residents from Queensland participated in the trial Half the participants applied sunscreen every day and the other half continued to apply sunscreen as they would normally.

After 15 years, the number of people who developed melanomas from the discretionary sunscreen group was twice that of the group who had applied daily sunscreen in the trial.

“These findings now provide some assurance to medical professionals, public health authorities and the general public, that the regular application of sunscreen is likely to be beneficial with regard to melanoma protection,” explained lead researcher Adèle Green.

“And while sunscreen use is an important part of skin cancer prevention, they of course are not the whole solution: other sun protection measures should be continued too,” she added.