Sun Protection Use Behaviour among University Students from 25 Low, Middle Income and Emerging Economy Countries

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the sun protection use behaviour among university students from25 low, middle income and emerging economy countries. Using anonymous questionnaires, data were collectedfrom 18,687 undergraduate university students aged 18-30 years (mean age 20.8, SD=2.8) from 26 universitiesin 25 countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas. Overall, 57.2% of university students reported liking tosunbathe and of those only 48.1% used sun protection when sunbathing. In multivariate logistic regression,younger age, being female, coming from a wealthy or quite well off economic family background, living in anupper middle or high income country, lighter skin tone, and other health behaviours were found to be associatedwith sun protection use behaviour. Low sun protection use calls for health promotion programmes to preventunprotected sun exposure.