[Prevention of melanoma by sun protective measures in childhood. Temporal changes in awareness of parents].

Numerous epidemiological studies on risk factors of malignant melanoma confirm the etiologic role of excessive UV-exposure especially in childhood. Preventive educational campaigns directed to parents of pre-school children have been inaugurated in several countries. In Germany the information was distributed by the "Working group for Preventive Measures in Dermatology" in cooperation with different public health institutions and the media starting in 1993. To evaluate the influence of these efforts on the knowledge and behaviour of the parents, two successive cross-sectional studies at all 56 nursery schools using the same standardised questionnaire were performed. The first interview took place in spring 1993 (before the campaign) with 1341 evaluable questionnaires', the second in fall 1994 (after the campaign) with 1150 evaluable questionnaire. The knowledge of the parents on melanoma risk factors was significantly improved in the second interview. Also the parental behavior regarding sun-protective measures when their children were outdoor at the beach or in the garden definitely changed. In 1993 the best textile sun protection was used by 21% of the parents at the beach and 36% in the garden. These numbers rose to 34% (beach) and 57% (garden) by the second interview. The percentage of children with no sunburn recorded during the preceding summer rose from 39% to 51%. According to the child's gender the parental behavior was different between the sexes; boys were always better protected than girls. The design of this study with two cross-sectional surveys in the same populations does not provide a methodologically sound basis for attributing the observed positive changes to the campaign. Without any doubt it can be stated that the parental knowledge and their attention to sun protection in their children showed substantial improvement in the second survey after the campaign. Thus, these results provide some evidence for the success of the preventive activities and confirm the necessity to continue with such activities.