Summer's here!

Wow has it been a long time since I've posted. Sorry about that! It's been busy here at CSTE, and we've been working quite hard on everything from international influenza consultations to CDC/CSTE Applied Epidemiology Fellowship interviews to Annual Conference planning.

Now it's April 5, and in Atlanta that means summer is here! Some summer public health tips:

• Food safety
  Summer means picnics, baseball games, hikes, and lots of outdoor eating. Keep yourself salmonellosis free this summer, and follow tips from organizations like this one. The basics are clean, separate, cook, and chill. And if you do have a foodborne illness, notify your local health department!
  
• Tick/bug bites
  Summer means bug bites, that's a fact, and there are a few things to do to keep yourself healthy and hopefully bite-free. This article gives some tips: stay on well-traveled paths, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants in the woods, wear DEET-containing bug repellants, and check yourself, children, and pets carefully after walking in the woods. Here is some info from CDC about vectorborne and rickettsial diseases. Finally, some "Fight the Bite!" info about West Nile Virus.
  
• Fun in the sun
  Use sunscreen - cover that delicate skin! Use safe sun practices to avoid the dreaded sunburn.
• Be safe
  And, last but not least, be safe. Injury accounts for a huge number of deaths during the summertime, so keep an eye out for yourself and your loved ones. Fireworks, boating and swimming, and general injury prevention - all important.
  

Don't forget the sunscreen...or data to prove your point

Commentary on: South Dakota sun lovers smarter than most By Jon Walker, Argusleader.com, April 14, 2009

This article actually details how South Dakota residents are really bad at wearing sunscreen. Considering that many S. Dakota residents work outside (i.e. farming, ranching, etc) the risk for skin cancer is quite high. The article's title implies that South Dakotans are actually good at protecting themselves with sunscreen, "...sun lovers smarter than most," but the author never provides data of sunscreen usage in other states for a true comparison...so I did!

The American Cancer Society has some really great information on this from 2008 (source). Here are states that have counts below South Dakota:

State -- New cases of melanoma (skin cancer)
South Dakota -- 160
Wyoming -- 120
North Dakota -- 110
Alabama -- 80
Dist. of Columbia -- 50

Now, the numbers above are frequencies (just counts) and they can also be misleading unless you compare the rates of new cases. Rates are more representative of the situation since it takes into account population size. Rates are important to understand what's going on.

So, I took into account each state's population and calculated the rates of new cases below:

State -- Rates of new cases of melanoma (count/total pop) x 100
South Dakota --0.21%
Wyoming -- 0.02%
North Dakota --0.02%
Alabama -- 0.002%
Dist. of Columbia --0.01%

Now -- looking at these rates, we have a completely different picture than we did with just the count data. According to the rates, South Dakota is the WORST at preventing new rates of skin cancer. This is discordant with what the article proclaims.

Bottom line:

• South Dakota needs to be better at applying sunscreen as a state.
• Be careful of data without denominators and
• Beware of misleading titles (like the one in this article).
• Always look for data to support the author's claims.
• Finally-- do a quick google images search of 'skin cancer' or 'melanoma' and you will see just how ugly it really is. Eghh. Apply sunscreen liberally!

If you want to know the skin cancer rates in your state or do your own fact checking, check out the American Cancer Society's 2008 data: http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/2008CAFFfinalsecured.pdf