Recent research has raised questions about possible adverse health and environmental effects of certain sunscreen ingredients, including research by the US Food and Drug Administration---the federal agency that regulates sunscreen. Little is known about the impact of hearing or reading about such potential adverse effects on sunscreen use.
The 2019 Fall Styles was an internet panel survey (N = 3,624), weighted to represent non-institutionalized US adults, that collected data on receipt of information about possible benefits and risks of sunscreen use and whether individual sunscreen use had changed during the previous 12-months. We examined change in sunscreen use (increased; decreased; stayed the same) overall and by sunscreen information status (yes/no: heard about possible health risks of sunscreen use; yes/no: heard about possible risks of sunscreen to coral reefs).
In the preceding 12 months, most respondents’ sunscreen use stayed the same (46.7%) or increased (15.7%). Use decreased among 1% of respondents, and 33.1% reported not using sunscreen. A minority of respondents reported hearing about possible health risks of sunscreen use (15.6%) or possible risks to coral reefs (15.1%). Among respondents who had heard of possible health and environmental risks, respectively, 2.3% and 1.3% decreased their sunscreen use, whereas 20.5% and 24.6% increased their sunscreen use.
Reduced sunscreen use among the public, based on dissemination of information about its possible risks, was unsupported by the findings in this study. Future research could continue to examine sunscreen use patterns in response to emerging science at the national and local levels.