The effects of sport, setting, and demographics on sunscreen use and education in young athletes

ABSTRACT

Participation in outdoor sports increases exposure to ultraviolet radiation, necessitating mitigation through sunscreen use. This prospective study examined the effects of sport, setting (practice vs. competition), gender, age and geographic location on sunscreen use and education among youth athletes in various sports. Six hundred and twelve athletes ≤18 years old completed an online survey on sunscreen education and use during competitions and practices. Regardless of sport, reported sunscreen use was higher during practices than competition (p < 0.0001). Sunscreen was used most by swimmers/divers (odds ratio: OR ≥ 1.9, p < 0.001) and least by American football players (OR ≤ 0.57, p ≤ 0.001). Coaches mentioned sunscreen use the most in track and field (OR 1.84, p = 0.001) and the least in American football (OR 0.67, p = 0.03). Athletes used sunscreen more if they were female (OR ≥ 1.9 1.38, p ≤ 0.06) and younger (age OR ≤ 0.88, p < 0.001). In conclusion, youth athletes differ in sunscreen use by sport and setting, highlighting the need for continued photoprotective education.

KEYWORDS:

• Sunscreen
• paediatric
• sports
• education
• prevention

Acknowledgements

We have no acknowledgements for this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data for this paper will be provided upon appropriate request to the corresponding author (TZ).

Ethical approvals

This was a survey study, so no ethical approval is necessary. However, this manuscript received approval from The Queen’s Medical Center Research & Institutional Review Committee – reference number RA-2014-037.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.