(Reuters Health) - Skin cancers caused by indoor tanning are responsible for $343 million a year in direct medical costs for U.S. patients, a recent study suggests. 
 
 On top of those direct healthcare costs, lost productivity and early deaths among patients with melanoma and other malignancies tied to tanning bed use will exceed $127 billion over the lifetime of the people currently diagnosed with these cancers, the study also found. 
 
 “We already knew that the use of indoor tanning devices is damaging to health and can cause cancer, but we did not have a comprehensive documentation of the health impacts at the population level or an estimate of the costs of health care to treat these conditions,” said study co-author Hugh Waters of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 
 
 An estimated 30 million people in the U.S. use tanning beds at least once a year, and they have approximately 25,000 tanning salons nationwide to choose from, researchers note in the Journal of Cancer Policy. 
 
 To estimate the health costs associated with indoor tanning, researchers tallied the average costs to treat skin malignancies including melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma. 
 
 Based on previously published estimates of the increased cancer risk associated with tanning beds, they also calculated the proportion of cases of these cancers that is attributable to indoor tanning. 
 
 With data on the prevalence of tanning device use in the U.S., they were able to calculate the number of skin cancer cases caused by tanning beds and the associated costs for treatment in 2015. 
 
 That year, tanning beds were linked to 8,947 cases of melanoma, more than 168,000 cases of squamous cell carcinoma and at least 86,000 cases of basal cell carcinoma. 
 
 Based on data from Medicare, the U.S. health insurance program for the elderly, researchers calculated that the average 2015 cost of treating melanoma was $5,054 per case and the typical cost for other skin cancers was $1,168. 
 
 In addition to these medical costs, researchers calculated the economic loss over the lifetime of individuals currently diagnosed with these cancers based on what they described as the value of a lost year of life. 
 
 This estimate was calculated based on the size of the U.S. population and on a measure of the size of the economy known as gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015. Under this formula, a year of life lost resulted in a $55,266 reduction in GDP. 
 
 It’s possible the study underestimated the number of skin cancers associated with indoor tanning, the authors note. Their cost estimates also didn’t include long-term medical and productivity costs associated with follow-up physician visits or additional care. 
 
 However, it’s also possible the study overestimated the economic costs associated with indoor tanning, said Dr. David Leffell, a researcher at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, who wasn’t involved in the study. 
 
 “I believe that the health risks and costs of natural sun exposure exceed those of indoor tanning substantially,” Leffell added by email. 
 
 All unprotected exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays can increase the risk of developing skin cancer, noted Dr. Elizabeth Martin, president of Pure Dermatology and Aesthetics in Hoover, Alabama, and a researcher at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. 
 
 “The cost of treating skin cancer is the same regardless of whether the patient used indoor tanning or tanned outdoors,” Martin, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. 
 
 Tanning beds, however, can make melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer, more likely, and the risk increases with more tanning sessions, Martin said. 
 
 The risk is stark for young women. 
 
 “Women younger than 30 are six times more likely to develop melanoma if they tan indoors,” Martin noted. “Even one indoor tanning session can increase users’ risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma by 67 percent and basal cell carcinoma by 29 percent.” 
 
 SOURCE: bit.ly/2lkInK7 Journal of Cancer Policy, online February 28, 2017. ||||| Tanning beds can ring up a steep bill — a whopping $343 million each year in medical costs in the US alone. 
 
 Indoor tanning has long been tied to skin cancer, the most common type of cancer in the US. It’s estimated that 30 million people — nearly 25 percent of whom are teenagers — head to tanning beds at least once a year. 
 
 And the health care costs of the habit can add up, health economists report in a new study published Tuesday in the Journal of Cancer Policy. 
 
 advertisement 
 
 Tanning beds emit UV-A rays, which can damage DNA, and UV-B rays, which can burn the skin and increase the risk of skin cancer. Research has shown that indoor tanning before age 35 raises the risk of melanoma up to 75 percent. 
 
 Health care researchers at the University of North Carolina focused on melanoma and two other types of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. 
 
 The researchers looked at all skin cancer cases in 2015, and then applied data on indoor tanning prevalence and relative risk of skin cancer after using a tanning bed to those numbers. They estimated that there were 263,600 cases of skin cancer in 2015 that could be attributed to the use of tanning beds. 
 
 The researchers then summed up the average annual cost of treating patients with each type of cancer, which totaled more than $343 million each year. 
 
 “Our findings highlight both the negative health and negative financial impacts associated with indoor tanning,” the authors wrote. 
 
 The Food and Drug Administration has taken steps in recent years to rein in use of tanning beds. In 2014, the agency announced that manufacturers would be required to put a black-box warning on tanning beds that states they shouldn’t be used by anyone under 18. The FDA also classified tanning beds as moderate-risk products in 2014, giving health officials the authority to review tanning beds for safety before they hit the market. 
 
 The Affordable Care Act aimed to reduce use of tanning beds, too, by implementing a 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services. 
 
 A couple caveats: The new numbers are just an estimation — it’s impossible to nail down the cause of each individual case of skin cancer. The results also don’t include costs associated with other health problems blamed on tanning beds, such as burns. 
 
 But the study’s authors said they are hopeful that putting an estimate on the social costs of indoor tanning will help reduce use of the devices.
– Tanning beds have long been associated with skin cancer, and now researchers are quantifying just what that costs the US financially. Reporting in the Journal of Cancer Policy, they calculate that in 2015, the direct medical care for skin cancers resulting from tanning bed exposure totals $343.1 million. What's more, they figure that early deaths and loss of productivity in these cases add up to a $127.3 billion loss over the lifetime of individuals currently diagnosed. But those are just dollar signs: the human toll is large, too, with more than 263,000 cases of skin cancer attributed to tanning beds in 2015 alone. The researchers call tanning beds a "significant contributor to illness and premature mortality in the US." Reuters notes that some 30 million Americans use tanning beds every year. Tanning beds emit UV-A rays, which damage DNA, and UV-B rays, which can burn one's skin and also raise the risk of skin cancer. (The research did not calculate the medical cost of burns.) Previous research has found that indoor tanning bed exposure in people younger than 35 nearly doubles their risk of melanoma, reports STAT News, and Americans must now be 18 or older to use them in several states. "Women younger than 30 are six times more likely to develop melanoma if they tan indoors," says a University of Alabama researcher who wasn't involved in the study. "Even one indoor tanning session can increase users' risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma by 67% and basal cell carcinoma by 29%." (Australia has outright banned tanning beds.)