Study finds low rate of physicians' mention of sunscreen use at patient visits

Physicians mention sunscreen at a low rate during patient visits, even to patients with a history of skin cancer, according to a study by Kristie L. Akamine, M.D., Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C., and colleagues. Researchers used the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey to identify patient visits to nonfederal outpatient physician offices at U.S. ambulatory care practices from January 1989 through December 2010 during which sunscreen was recommended. According to the results, physicians mentioned sunscreen at about 12.8 million visits (0.07 percent)...