SCHAUMBURG, Ill., May 5 /PRNewswire/ — While occupational risks are inherent in many jobs, workers who make a living toiling in the sun face an increased threat of skin cancer from repeated overexposure to the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. Now, new research finds that workers who need skin exams the most by nature of their occupation — such as construction, forestry, fishing and farming workers — are the least likely to get them.
In the study published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology entitled “Reported skin cancer screening of U.S. adult workers,” dermatologist Robert S. Kirsner, MD, PhD, FAAD, professor and vice chairman of the departments of dermatology and cutaneous surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, and his colleagues used the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data from 2000 and 2005 to estimate the percentage of U.S. workers who had ever had a thorough skin examination in their lifetime or during an appointment with a primary health care provider in the past 12 months. continue reading...
