Over the same years, the children who said that they like to have a tan grew from 53 percent to 66 percent. While half of students reported in 2004 that they often or always use sunscreen when in the sun for six hours or more, that dropped to a quarter in 2007. The authors said the results point to a need for more education about the importance of sun protection.
BOTTOM LINE: More than half of adolescents surveyed have had a sunburn, which increases their risk of developing skin cancer later in life.
CAUTIONS: Sun exposure was self-reported by the children. The study did not assess reasons for the decline in sunscreen use. White boys were more willing to participate in the study, while Latino students and girls were less willing.
WHERE TO FIND IT: Pediatrics, February 2012 — CHELSEA CONABOY
Oral HPV affects 7 percent of Americans
About 16 million people - 7 percent of Americans ages 14 to 69 - are infected with an oral form of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, which appears to be responsible for a recent surge in throat cancers. The study found that one in seven people with oral HPV had a cancer-causing strain.
Ohio State University researchers gathered DNA samples from the mouths of nearly 5,600 study volunteers and found that 10 percent of men and nearly 4 percent of women carried HPV - most likely transmitted during oral sex.
Prevalence of the virus was higher among those who reported ever having had sex and increased with the number of sexual partners.
“Taken together, these data indicate that transmission by casual, nonsexual contact is likely to be unusual,’’ wrote the study authors.
BOTTOM LINE: Seven percent of Americans are infected with oral HPV, but most don’t have a cancer-causing strain.
CAUTIONS: The research was partially funded by Merck, manufacturer of the Gardasil vaccine that protects against infection with the HPV virus. Also, the researchers couldn’t explain why infection rates peaked after age 50, when the number of current sexual partners tended to be fewer, but they added that sexual behaviors can be difficult to measure accurately.
WHERE TO FIND IT: Journal of the American Medical Association, online Jan. 26 — DEBORAH KOTZ
