Hispanic Teens' Awareness of Skin Cancer Risk Lags

MIAMI, Aug. 21 -- White Hispanic teenagers are less conscious of skin cancer risks than are non-Hispanic whites, according to a survey of high school students here.

White Hispanic students were significantly more likely to tan deeply (P=0.04) but significantly less likely to know about skin self-examination (P

Data for the study were derived from a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire completed by 369 students (221 white Hispanics and 148 white non-Hispanics).

The principal findings from the survey included:

• 44% of white Hispanics reported tanning deeply compared with 31% of white non-Hispanics (P=0.04).
• Twice as many whites had heard of skin self-examination as compared with Hispanics (37.2% versus 18.6%, P