The tanning habits and interest in sunscreen of Google users: what happened in 12 years?

BACKGROUND: The incidence of melanoma has been rising worldwide. One possible reason for this is natural and artificial UV exposure. Only little data on actual consumer statistics from tanning studios and the usage of sunscreen are available. Therefore, it is difficult to describe trends for both and identify the impact of preventive measures.

METHODS: To gain knowledge about the popularity of 'tanning bed' and 'sunscreen', normalized search volumes for both search queries were obtained from Google Trends for 11 countries between January 2004 and June 2016.

RESULTS: With few exceptions, worldwide interest in 'tanning bed' has been declining, whereas interest in 'sunscreen' has been increasing. The assessed countries from the Southern Hemisphere showed minor interest in tanning compared to the Northern Hemisphere. Both search queries were observed to fluctuate in a seasonal pattern. Skin cancer prevention measures influence the interest in tanning beds and sunscreen.

CONCLUSION: Google Trends data can act as a first surrogate marker to evaluate the influence of skin cancer campaigns on the popularity of tanning beds and sunscreen. Fine-tuning of skin cancer campaigns according to seasonal and geographic trends and behaviors may help to maximize their success.