| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
1 Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, 2 Pacific Biomedical Research Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii; and 3 Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
Requests for reprints: David O'Riordan, Prevention and Control Program, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, 1960 East-West Road, Biomed C-105, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822. Phone: 808-441-7705; Fax: 808-586-3077. E-mail: doriordan{at}crch.hawaii.edu
| Abstract |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Methods: Thirty volunteer office workers were randomly assigned to have one of a variety of sunscreens applied using recommended application techniques, and half were randomly assigned to have sunscreen reapplied after 3 hours. Alcohol-based swabs were used to obtain a sample from participants' arm at 20 minutes, and hourly from 1 to 6 hours post-application. Absorption readings were analyzed using an UV-visible spectrophotometer.
Results: The swabbing technique was consistently able to distinguish the sunscreen from control swabs for up to 6 hours. The absorption readings between 20 minutes and 6 hours were significantly higher than control swabs. There were no differences between the group that had sunscreen reapplied and the group that did not.
Conclusion: The sunscreen swabbing technique is an effective noninvasive method for detecting a variety of sunscreen products in adults over a 6-hour period. No differences in absorption readings were found with sunscreen reapplication. This procedure will be a useful adjunct to other objective measures of sun protection and UV radiation exposure, resulting in a more accurate picture of the sun protection habits of individuals.
| Introduction |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Most sunscreens combine organic UV-absorbing and inorganic UV-reflecting chemicals to provide broad-spectrum protection (11). The sun protection afforded by a sunscreen is defined by its sun protection factor (SPF), which is assessed by an internationally agreed application thickness of 2 mg/cm2 (11). The SPF protection afforded may be reduced due to inadequate application (<2 mg/cm2), water resistance, and abrasion from clothing and/or sand (12, 13). Several studies have found that consumers apply much less than this recommendation (14-16), providing a level of protection 20% to 50% less than that stated by the SPF (17).
Our understanding of the use of sunscreens relies on self-report data, which introduces a major limitation due to possible social desirability bias (18, 19). Observational measures are useful for assessing body coverage from hats and clothing, but observation is a weak measure of sunscreen use since it is only possible to observe when a person is applying sunscreen and not whether it is on the skin. Indirect procedures such as returning bottles for weighing the remaining sunscreen have been used in trials where sunscreen was provided to study subjects (5, 20), but these methods cannot be applied to most population-based studies. Fluorescence spectroscopy is a recently developed technique to measure the thickness of sunscreen application (21, 22), but it also seems to have limited utility in large-scale community studies as it requires expensive equipment to be taken into the field.
Sunscreen swabbing has been proposed as a quick and reliable method for determining whether sunscreen has been applied to the skin (23). This procedure is based on the fact that organic compounds make up the majority of sunscreens and absorb radiation in the UV spectrum (23). Sunscreen swabbing has proven successful within a laboratory setting (21 office workers) and on a small sample of 12 children 2 to 4 years of age (23). The procedure is portable, rapid, and easy to perform, and swabs can be stored and analyzed in batches days or weeks later. Therefore, it is promising for use as an objective measure of sun prevention behaviors and should be tested in the United States using commonly sold sunscreens.
Reapplication is generally considered an important element of the effective use of sunscreen (11). Compared to the first application, the second sunscreen application is believed to provide approximately two times more protection against sunburn (24). As reapplication is an important aspect of effective sunscreen use, the purpose of this study is to ascertain if a noninvasive swabbing technique can determine both sunscreen use and reapplication in adults.
| Materials and Methods |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Sunscreens
The sunscreens included a range of popular brands of various SPF strengths sold in the United States. They included: Coppertone (SPF 30), Coppertone Sport (SPF 30), Neutrogena (SPF 30), Banana Boat Sport (SPF 30), Banana Boat Faces (SPF 23), and Hawaiian Tropic (SPF 15+). We used a variety of brand name products to avoid the risk of drawing conclusions that would be based on only one type of sunscreen. An overview of the sunscreens that shows the manufacturer, SPF, and active ingredients is provided in Table 1.
|
2.5 cm2). The most distal section of the right arm was swabbed before applying any sunscreen (baseline control), and each successively more proximal grid on the right arm was swabbed after intervals of 20 minutes, 1, 2, and 3 hours after initial application, taking care to only wipe within the specified test section. Sunscreen reapplication was undertaken at hour 3. Half of the participants were randomly selected to have their assigned sunscreen reapplied to the designated area on the left forearm by the researcher, using the same procedure described above. The most distal section of the left arm was swabbed prior to reapplying any sunscreen (reapplication control), and each successively more proximal grid on the left arm of all participants was swabbed at intervals of 20 minutes, 1, 2, and 3 hours, respectively, after reapplication. Thus, swabbing continued for 6 hours after the initial application.
Sunscreen Absorption Readings and Analysis
Eluted washings (0.5 mL) were transferred to a UV-rated cuvette (BrandTech UVB ultra micro, 70-880 µL) and absorbance was determined using a UV-Visible Spectrophotometer (Beckman DU-530) at 5 nm intervals over the wavelength 280 to 400 nm (the UVA and UVB spectrum). Absorbance is defined as the logarithm to the base 10 of the ratio of the spectral radiant power of light transmitted through a reference sample to that of the light transmitted through a control sample. A swab placed directly into ethanol was used as a reference standard (control swab) for all other swabs, thereby limiting potential light-absorbing properties of the swab itself. In previous research, absorbance readings at 320 nm have been found to be the most reliable indicators (23). We were able to ascertain the presence of sunscreen by comparing absorbance readings at 320 nm with a baseline swab wiped on the skin before sunscreen was applied. Due to coding of samples, laboratory staff were blinded to specific information relating to individual swabs.
Absorbance readings from the spectrophotometer were imported to a database for statistical analysis using SPSS (version 12; ref. 25). Descriptive and graphical analyses were undertaken on all absorbance readings. ANOVA was used to determine if there was any statistical difference between application and reapplication, and repeated measures ANOVA were used to test for differences between swabs with no sunscreen and swabs taken at various lengths of time after application (20 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, etc.). To determine sensitivity and specificity, we categorized absorbance readings for all samples taken with sunscreen of the 6 hours including those with reapplication (n = 240) as sunscreen-positive, and those taken before sunscreen was applied as sunscreen-negative (n = 30). These known results were then compared with absorbance readings at 320 nm. The mean absorbance and Standard Deviation (SD) of each group was taken and the maximum distance of 5.4 SDs from each mean was an absorbance of 0.147. Therefore, this measurement was used as the cutoff, and sensitivity and specificity were calculated according to Fig. 1.
|
| Results |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The sensitivity and specificity of this technique was very high. In fact, only 2 out of 300 samples were incorrectly categorized using the swabbing technique. It is important to note that in settings that are less controlled (e.g., self-application of sunscreen, water, and sand abrasion) the cutoff may need to be adjusted, or the accuracy might be lower. Our test of sensitivity and specificity may have been strengthened by including a lotion with no SPF in the study.
Even in a controlled setting, sunscreen application thickness and associated SPF was shown to decrease over a 2-hour period (12), resulting in the need to reapply sunscreen. Whiteman et al. (23) also showed that there is a decrease in absorbance over a 4-hour period with most substantive decreases occurring in the first 2 hours after application. Our study did not show a decrease in absorbance over a 6-hour period. This result may be in part due to the lack of alcohol-based sunscreens or sunscreens with benzophenone-3 in this study, so there may have been less decrease due to absorption into the skin, which has been reported to be higher in sunscreens with these ingredients (26). Another factor could be methodologic differences such as cuvette type (UVB-sensitive plastic versus quartz) and swab type (ethanol versus baby wipe).
We were surprised to find that no significant variation in the level of absorption between participants who had sunscreen reapplied compared with those that did not reapply sunscreen. Reapplication of sunscreen is thought to aid the maintenance of an adequate application thickness and subsequently an adequate UV radiation protection resulting in better protection than a single application of sunscreen (27). Yet, we found no increase in absorbance between application and reapplication of sunscreen. This result may be an artifact of our sampling methods: maximum swab uptake of sunscreen, supersaturated solution in the vial, or cuvette type (disposable UV-rated). Alternatively, this may indicate that reapplication does not afford greater protection to the wearer from UV radiation, but rather provides maintenance of an adequate layer of protection that might normally be reduced by the rubbing of clothing, perspiration, or immersion in water.
The swabbing procedure is effective in a controlled setting and can effectively detect whether someone is wearing sunscreen across a range of sunscreens. The next step is to test the swabbing procedure among adults in outdoor settings, where they are exposed to UV radiation and self-apply sunscreen. We have begun to incorporate this methodology as one of a range of measures (objective and self-reported) to asses sun protection practices among beach-goers, and to see if it can distinguish between sunscreens with low and high SPF.
This procedure will be most useful when combined with other objective measures of sun protection and UV radiation exposure, resulting in a more accurate picture of sun protection practice of populations. There is a further need to compare this objective measure with self-report in outdoor settings to help us learn more about the biases introduced by self-report of sunscreen use.
Recent evidence reviews have continued to examine whether sunscreen can prevent melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, or whether sunscreen is associated with increased risk of melanoma, as has been argued in the past (6, 8). Even so, as Bigby (7) points out, it may take many years to detect a protective effect of newer formulations of sunscreens on melanoma. The methodology reported in this study will be a useful tool in such research as well as in studies of skin cancer prevention.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
| Footnotes |
|---|
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Received 8/26/04; revised 10/18/04; accepted 11/12/04.
| References |
|---|
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
T. Elliott, E. J. Nehl, and K. Glanz A Controlled Trial of Objective Measures of Sunscreen and Moisturizing Lotion Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., May 1, 2009; 18(5): 1399 - 1402. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. L. O'Riordan, K. B. Lunde, A. D. Steffen, and J. E. Maddock Validity of Beachgoers' Self-report of Their Sun Habits. Arch Dermatol, October 1, 2006; 142(10): 1304 - 1311. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Cancer Research | Clinical Cancer Research |
| Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention | Molecular Cancer Therapeutics |
| Molecular Cancer Research | Cancer Prevention Research |
| Cancer Prevention Journals Portal | Cancer Reviews Online |
| Annual Meeting Education Book | Meeting Abstracts Online |