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Youth access to indoor tanning salons in urban versus rural/suburban communities
Author(s) -
Nahar Vinayak K.,
Rosenthal Meagen,
Lemon Stephenie C.,
Kane Kevin,
Cheng Jie,
Oleski Jessica L.,
Li Wenjun,
Hillhouse Joel J.,
Pagoto Sherry L.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
photodermatology, photoimmunology and photomedicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.736
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1600-0781
pISSN - 0905-4383
DOI - 10.1111/phpp.12364
Subject(s) - geography , environmental health , medicine
Summary Background/Purpose Research suggests that youth proximity to tanning salons may promote use; however, little is known about tanning salon proximity to schools. We assessed the proximity of tanning salons to schools in urban versus rural/suburban communities across Worcester County, Massachusetts (population > 800K). To put findings in context, we compared school proximity to tanning salons to school proximity to McDonald's restaurants, a large franchise that also caters to young people. Materials & Methods Accessibility was measured by Arc GIS 10.2 Network Analyzer ( ESRI , Redlands, CA , USA ) and the most current road network data layer from Massachusetts Department of Transportation (Mass DOT ). Results A total of 145 schools were observed in the study area, of which about 39% of schools were within 1 mile from a tanning salon. Urban schools (53.41%) had a higher proportion within 1 mile of a tanning salon than rural/suburban schools (17.54%; P < .001). More schools (39.31%) were within 1 mile of a tanning salon than schools within 1 mile of a McDonald's (22.70%; P < .001). Conclusions Schools may be particularly impactful for implementing skin cancer prevention programing.