Ethnoracial differences among outdoor workers in key sun-safety behaviors

Background Few sun-safety studies have included ethnoracially diverse groups. Comparison across such groups of sun-safety behaviors was the main objective of this analysis. Methods Postal workers (n =2543) self-reported frequency of sunscreen, wide-brim hat, and sunglasses use during the last 5 workdays on 5-point Likert-type scales ranging from “never” to “always.” Responses were dichotomized by “always” versus all other responses. Generalized estimating equations were used to assess the association between ethnicity/race and frequency of each sun safety behavior. The baseline data reported in this paper were collected in the summer of 2001, and the randomized trial was completed in the summer of 2004. Results Ethnicity/race was significantly related to sunscreen and sunglasses use. For both sunscreen and sunglasses, the white group had significantly higher “always” rates than the other four groups (30% vs 14% to 23% and 63% vs 44% to 52%, respectively). Conclusions The results of this study indicated that although non-Latino white employees tended to have higher rates of sun-safety behaviors, the rates of adequate protection of all groups were low.