Background: Skin cancer is a serious health problem in our society, and UV radiation is the most significant agent in its development. Photoprotection and awareness of the risks of developing skin cancer are the basic pillars in its prevention. As future healthcare professionals, medical students’ knowledge of these questions is likely to influence the effectiveness with which they can promote appropriate behavior regarding sun exposure among their patients. Our objective was to assess the knowledge and awareness of photoprotection among medical students and their behavior regarding sun exposure.
Methods: A Google questionnaire comprising 54 questions about the risks of skin cancer and photoprotective habits was developed. 228 participants were recruited to the study, of whom sixth-year and fourth-year students were the most and least strongly represented groups, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26.
Results: Significantly more fifth- and sixth-year students had knowledge of the meaning of the sun protection factor (SPF) than those in pre-clinical years (P=0.006), and more of them were aware of the risks of developing skin cancer (P=0.039). A higher percentage of female than male students took FPS into account when buying sunscreen (P=0.023), and male students are more likely to be reluctant to apply sunscreen than female students (P=0.022). A higher proportion of women than men in the study used sunscreen for outdoor activities (P=0.015).
Conclusions: Prevention of sun overexposure is a public health priority, and medical students will be in charge of informing the general population in the future. Most students who are currently studying medicine have some knowledge of skin cancer prevention, although there are significant differences between sexes and year of study. However, their behavior indicates that their knowledge does not consistently translate from theory into practice.