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May 25, 20260 citationsOpen Access

Sun protection use behaviour among university students from 25 low, middle income and emerging economy countries

Key Points

The research aims to understand sun protection use behaviour among university students from diverse economic backgrounds.
Data were collected via anonymous questionnaires from 18,687 undergraduate students aged 18-30 years.
Participants were from 26 universities across 25 countries in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Multivariate logistic regression was utilized to identify factors associated with sun protection use.
57.2% of students reported enjoying sunbathing, but only 48.1% used sun protection when doing so.
Younger age, female gender, wealthier background, and lighter skin tone were linked to higher sun protection use.
The findings indicate a need for targeted health promotion programmes to reduce unprotected sun exposure.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the sun protection use behaviour among university students from 25 low, middle income and emerging economy countries. Using anonymous questionnaires, data were collected from 18,687 undergraduate university students aged 18-30 years (mean age 20.8, SD=2.8) from 26 universities in 25 countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas. Overall, 57.2% of university students reported liking to sunbathe 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 an upper middle or high income country, lighter skin tone, and other health behaviours were found to be associated with sun protection use behaviour. Low sun protection use calls for health promotion programmes to prevent unprotected sun exposure.

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