ABSTRACT
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has impacted societal and public behaviors as prevention efforts restrict activities and socialization. Many citizens are finding themselves turning to outdoor activities to properly social distance and stay physically, emotionally, and mentally healthy. IMPACT Melanoma, a non-profit aimed to reduce skin cancer and conduct skin cancer prevention outreach, provides sunscreen dispensers and sunscreen to many park and recreational institutions. We hypothesize that IMPACT's distribution, along with sunscreen purchases by consumers, will be decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings of the study demonstrate a 61% reduction of sunscreen dispensers in 2020, when compared to 2019. In parallel, there was a 50.8% decrease in purchases of cases of sunscreen. Sector sponsorship by public health departments and parks/recreational facilities (the largest 2019 sponsors) decreased by 49.7% and 27.9%, respectively. Trends in the general public’s purchase of sunscreen reflected similar pandemic-related declines. Consumers in the US purchased less sunscreen starting in March 2020 (-3% for the week ending 3/7/2020, followed by -17% for the week ending 3/14/2020), with the largest decreases in April and May (-31% to -65%). Some tapering in declining sunscreen sales was observed in early June despite the outdoor activity-oriented Memorial Day holiday weekend (-11% for the week ending 6/6/2020). As illustrated by these findings, the increase in outdoor activity among the general public combined with a reduction in sunscreen sales and distribution poses an increased exposure to UV light, which inevitably increases the risk of skin cancer. Additional studies are necessary to further explore the impact of COVID-19 on skin cancer prevention efforts.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 has disproportionately affected female academics, where publications by women authors in many fields have decreased during the pandemic. This trend has yet to be examined in dermatology. We surveyed the recent representation of total female authors, female first authors (FFA), and female senior authors (FSA, a potential indicator of career advancement) in the dermatologic literature. Publications from five top h-index Web of Science dermatology journals (Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, JAMA Dermatology, Dermatologic Surgery, Lasers in Surgery and Medicine) were analyzed. Genderize.io predicted binary gender by author first name. Surprisingly, the total proportion of female authorship increased from 44% (2018) to 46% (2020), and similarly for FFA (2018: 46%, 2019: 48%, 2020: 53%) and FSA (2018: 38%, 2019: 38%, 2020: 40%). Many possible explanations exist for this trend. The proportion of women board-certified in dermatology has grown substantially in recent years, possibly exceeding any detrimental impact of COVID-19. Decreased patient capacity at dermatology clinics, suspension of elective procedures, and a prominent shift to telemedicine may provide more time for research. Our study was limited to five top influential dermatology journals, and prediction of gender using genderize.io's database. Due to indexing delays, some 2020-indexed publications may have been generated before the pandemic, necessitating further study. While it is promising that FFA data suggests proportional contributions from female lead authors, FSA percentages are still lagging behind, corroborating patterns of female underrepresentation in senior faculty positions and ongoing gender disparities in research funding and academic promotion. Future analysis and discussion will be necessary to strengthen support for female academic dermatologists.