Prevalence of photoprotection and its associated factors in risk group for skin cancer in Teresina, Piauí

BACKGROUND: The incidence of skin cancer has increased worldwide, particularly melanoma rates, which had a mean development of 2.6 % a year in the last 10 years. The agreement on the relation between long-term or chronic exposure to the sun and the emergence of these neoplasias has made several workers who perform activities exposed to solar radiation to form a risk group for the development of skin cancer, community health agents included. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the prevalence of sunscreen-use-related factors to skin cancer in a labor risk group. METHODOLOGY: Cross-sectional study with community health agents selected through simple random sampling. After collecting data using semi-structured interviews, a descriptive analysis was performed for the qualitative variables, bivariate analysis was employed for checking the association between sunscreen use and sociodemographic, occupational and knowledge about skin variables, and multivariate analysis was conducted to check independent variables associated to sunscreen use. A 5% significance level was used. RESULTS: Of 261 health gents selected, 243 were able to participate in the study. The prevalence rate of sunscreen use was 34.2% (95% CI: 28.2-40.2). Factors associated with sunscreen use were female sex, advanced age, use of sunscreen in situations when the skin got burnt, knowledge of the negative effects of the sun on the skin and skin cancer history. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence found reveals that there is a need for implementing educational strategies in health services regarding photoprotection.