A new study found that 45 percent of the young women continue using tanning beds, despite being aware of the health risks involved, according to University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers.
Earlier in May last year, the Food and Drugs Administration issued a warning against using tanning beds and made it compulsory for all manufactures to equip their indoor tanning beds with labels warning users about the possibility of cancer and that the devices shouldn't be used by people under 18.
Despite this, University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers found that 45 percent of the young women continue using tanning beds, with 30 percent using one in the last year.
"We reached out to this population not only because we thought they might be tanning bed users, but also because young people are at the greatest risk of developing skin cancer as a result of tanning indoors," said Seth M. Noar, PhD, of the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication in a press statement. "We found that appearance is important, but we found that other factors to be equally or even more important. For instance, many of these young women reported really enjoying the experience of tanning indoors. They reported that it reduces stress and is relaxing to them. In the study, we called this factor 'mood enhancement'."
Researchers found that most women who used these tanning devices were teenagers.
Among white women aged 18 to 34, nearly 25 percent use tanning beds and 15 percent use them frequently, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tanning beds are said to be a leading cause of skin cancer. A report last year revealed that 1 in 7 skin cancer patients want to continue using these tanning devices despite being diagnosed with the illness. The Skin Cancer Foundation reported that this may be a new form of substance abuse now known as tanning addition.
Melanoma is responsible for the death of an estimated 8,790 people in the U.S. annually. 120,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed in the country every year, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
The growing awareness of the dangers has led to major efforts to curtail tanning bed use, especially among teens. Five states ban the use of tanning beds for minors under 18, and 33 states and the District of Columbia have passed regulations limiting minors' access to indoor tanning. In North Carolina, a tanning bed bill targeting minors was introduced in 2012 but did not reach a final vote.
Findings of the study were published in JAMA Dermatology.
