TY - JOUR PY - 2016// TI - Tanning bed burns reported on Twitter: over 15,000 in 2013 JO - Translational behavioral medicine A1 - Seidenberg, Andrew B. A1 - Pagoto, Sherry L. A1 - Vickey, Theodore A. A1 - Linos, Eleni A1 - Wehner, Mackenzie R. A1 - Costa, Renata Dalla A1 - Geller, Alan C. SP - 271 EP - 276 VL - 6 IS - 2 N2 - Few surveillance tools exist for monitoring tanning bed injuries. Twitter data were examined to identify and describe reports of tanning bed-caused burns. Tweets sent in 2013 containing keywords for tanning bed use and burning were content analyzed to determine whether a burn caused by a tanning bed was described, and additional data on tanning behavior and burn characteristics were extracted. After content assessment, 15,178 (64 %) tweets were found to describe a tanning bed-caused burn. Sites most reportedly burnt were buttocks (n = 3117), face/head (n = 1020), and chest/breast (n = 546). Alarmingly, 200 burns to the eyes/eyelids were mentioned. A total of 456 tweets described burning >1 time from a tanning bed. A total of 211 tweets mentioned falling asleep inside the tanning bed. In 2013, over 15,000 tweets reported tanning bed-caused burns. Twitter data provides unique insight into tanning behaviors and injuries not captured through traditional public health surveillance.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 1869-6716 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13142-016-0388-6 ID - ref1 ER -