HHS HealthBeat (June 22, 2007)

Done yet?

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Some people tan. Some people cook. Based on a survey on sunburns, the trend is to cook.

A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more than a third of people surveyed reported a sunburn in 2004. That’s up almost two percentage points from 1999. Dr. Djenaba Joseph’s findings were in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Sunburn can be deadly:

``The relative risk of melanoma, the most lethal of skin cancer – for people with a history of sunburn, is twice that of people with no history of sunburn.’’ (eight seconds)

Fair-skinned, light-haired people are more sensitive, but darker-skinned people burn, too.

She advises people to cover up outside, stay out of the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., and wear sun screen of SPF 15 or higher.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

Last revised: June, 22 2007