Goff Kiera L, Karimkhani Chante, Boyers Lindsay N, Hernandez Melia D, Pederson Hannah, Royer Eryn L, Dellavalle Robert P
Department of Community and Behavioral Health, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO. Department of Dermatology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO. Dermatology Service, Eastern Colorado Health Care System, US Department of Veteran Affairs, Denver, CO..
Dermatol Online J. 2014 Dec 13;21(2):13030/qt8917c1w6.
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Indoor tanning by adults under 35 years of age increases the risk of developing melanoma 59% to 75%. Cost is a major barrier limiting young adults from purchasing indoor tanning services. Our recent study by Boyers et al determined that 18 of 96 major universities, all in the eastern and southern United States, had university-sponsored debit cards with indoor tanning affiliations. These debit cards, which conveniently link with student identification (ID) cards, help with student living expenses and are often loaded with money by parents. By creating agreements with indoor tanning salon vendors, universities are endorsing a World Health Organization class I carcinogen. To expand the results of our previous study, we broadened our search to further assess universities in the western United States as well as Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Using www.collegeboard.edu, we identified the 4 largest residential colleges in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Additionally, we investigated the top international universities, utilizing www.topuniversities.com. Internet searches, phone calls, and email correspondence were used to determine if an institution had a student ID-linked debit card. Universities with affiliations to bank debit cards and cards that could only be used on campus were excluded.
In the western United States, indoor tanning merchants were affiliated with University of Arizona, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University: Prescott Campus, and the University of Denver student debit cards. Of the original 18 schools with affiliations according to the Boyers et al study, 2 universities no longer have agreements and 5 created agreements with additional tanning salons. Of 45 universities examined in our international search, no debit cards were discovered for off-campus purchases. Therefore, the concerning issue of university associations with tanning salons appears to be solely a domestic problem.
Our findings indicate that the formation of financial agreements between universities and tanning salons is an ever-present and growing problem in the United States. Since Boyers et al, we have engaged in outreach efforts with alumni, faculty, administration, and local university cancer centers to terminate university ties with tanning salon vendors. Further advocacy efforts are critical to combat this dangerous association, reduce the frequency of skin cancer, and protect the health of young adults.
35岁以下成年人进行室内晒黑会使患黑色素瘤的风险增加59%至75%。费用是限制年轻人购买室内晒黑服务的主要障碍。我们最近由博耶斯等人进行的研究确定，美国东部和南部的96所主要大学中有18所拥有与室内晒黑机构相关联的大学赞助借记卡。这些借记卡可方便地与学生身份证关联，有助于支付学生的生活费用，且通常由家长充值。通过与室内晒黑沙龙供应商达成协议，大学正在认可世界卫生组织的I类致癌物。为了扩展我们先前研究的结果，我们扩大了搜索范围，以进一步评估美国西部以及澳大利亚、新西兰、爱尔兰、加拿大和英国的大学。
在美国西部，室内晒黑商家与亚利桑那大学、安柏瑞德航空大学普雷斯科特分校以及丹佛大学的学生借记卡相关联。根据博耶斯等人的研究，最初有18所附属学校，其中2所大学不再有协议，5所大学与其他晒黑沙龙达成了协议。在我们的国际搜索中审查的45所大学中，未发现用于校外消费的借记卡。因此，大学与晒黑沙龙的关联这一令人担忧的问题似乎只是一个国内问题。
我们的研究结果表明，大学与晒黑沙龙之间达成财务协议在美国是一个持续存在且日益严重的问题。自博耶斯等人的研究以来，我们已与校友、教师、行政人员和当地大学癌症中心进行了宣传努力，以终止大学与晒黑沙龙供应商的关系。进一步的宣传努力对于对抗这种危险的关联、降低皮肤癌的发病率以及保护年轻人的健康至关重要。
