NEWS | Wednesday, 11 February 2009

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Matthew Vella
The Maltese people’s behaviour under exposure to the strong rays of the sun has deteriorated, doctors have said in a report on trends in sun exposure awareness.
“Their sun exposure-related knowledge has increased and attitudes towards safety of tanning have improved, but sun-related behaviour appears to have deteriorated in adolescents and adults,” doctors from the Department of Dematology and Health Information wrote in an article on a study charting changes in attitudes towards sun exposure between 1999 and 2004.
The study was conducted by Susan Aquilina and Lawrence Scerri, from Boffa Hospital’s department of dermatology, Neville Calleja from the department of health information, and Andrew Amato-Gauci, from the European Centre for Disease Prevention.
It assessed the impacts of the sun awareness campaigns in Malta in 1999 where 599 pedestrians aged 16-50 were interviewed, and in 2004, where 304 pedestrians were interviewed.
“Practically all those interviewed knew that the sun can cause skin cancer and photoageing, and a high percentage knew that skin cancer be fatal… However, despite all this knowledge, the percentage of respondents admitting spending leisure time in the sun during peak hours of sunshine increased instead of decreasing. This was especially true for the younger people.”
The report shows a drop in people regularly wearing a hat during peak sunshine’s hours between 10am and 3pm for leisure activities. 54.8% in 2004 said they never wore a hat, compared to 54% in 1999. Those who said they regularly wore a hat fell to 18.4% from 32.4% in 1999.
Regular sunscreen use remained constant, with more people using sun-cream “occasionally” in 2004, but 23.8% confessing not to use sun-cream. Over 50% use it regularly.
“Why is the knowledge not being converted into behavioural change?” the doctors asked, noting that awareness of the damage of sun exposure had increased throughout the last years.
“Is it that people feel they are somehow personally immune to the sun’s harmful rays… it could be that looking tanned is worthwhile whatever the price paid,” the authors write, noting that even work-related exposure behaviour was disappointing.
“This is despite government measures to provide free sunscreen to various occupational sectors involving outdoor activity, including postal workers, members of the police force, and hospital security personnel… outdoor workers should be advised to plan outdoor work to avoid peak hours of sunshine and to work in the shade as far as possible.”
The doctors said the situation in children appears to be different, with sunscreen use becoming the rule (96.1% in 2004 compared to 87% in 1999) although regular hat use dropped.
“It is a pity that the high level of sun protection apparently enjoyed by children seems not to be maintained when the children become adolescents, as sun exposure during leisure activities and sun protection rates remain the worst amongst 16-25 year olds. The positive influence of parents seems to be replaced by negative peer pressure.”
The doctors also said that college students seemed to be more concerned about the effects on their looks, rather than actual cancer risks. “[They] are more likely to change their behaviour when the immediate risks to appearance are emphasised rather than cancer risks, which are psychologically remote.”

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