Travel Time to Tanning Facilities Negatively Linked to Melanoma Incidence

THURSDAY, Nov. 7, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- There is a negative association between travel time to tanning facilities and county-level melanoma incidence rates, according to a study published online Nov. 7 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

Guixing Wei, Ph.D., from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and colleagues examined the association between melanoma incidence and access to tanning bed facilities using data for New England county-level melanoma incidence rates for 2014 to 2018, tanning bed facilities location, demographic data, socioeconomic data, and geographic data.

The researchers found that for every one-minute increase in average travel time to tanning facilities within a 30-minute travel time threshold, there was a decrease in melanoma incidence by 3.46 and 1.92 percent in the same county and across New England, respectively. A negative association was identified between average travel time to tanning facilities and county-level melanoma incidence rate. With respect to county-level melanoma rate, six high-risk clusters and seven low-risk clusters were identified.

"The identification of clusters of melanoma incidence can help inform the strategic targeting of interventions and resources that aim to reduce the burden of melanoma," the authors write.

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