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Use of Skin-Whitening Products by Sudanese Undergraduate Females: a Survey

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Abstract

Background

Although skin-whitening products are commonly used among dark-skinned women of African descent, research on the frequency with which Sudanese women use skin-whitening products is lacking.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Gezira, Sudan, on the use of skin-whitening products among a sample of Sudanese undergraduate females (ages 16–33 years). Sociodemographic characteristics were collected, and students were asked whether they had used skin-whitening products in the past 12 months.

Results

Of the 348 undergraduate females surveyed in this study, 74.4 % reported using skin-whitening products within the past year. Of this group, 2.7 % reported using injections, 2.4 % pills, 30.6 % bleaching cream, and 76.2 % soap. Illegal sources (e.g., people selling on the sides of roads) of skin-whitening products were reported by 22.8 %. The use of skin-whitening products was common in females who were not satisfied with their skin colors more so than those who were satisfied with their skin colors (83.7 vs. 70.5 %, P = 0.010). Undergraduate females who had mothers, sisters, or other relatives who bleached reported a greater frequency of using skin-whitening products than those who had no family member who bleached (100, 87.7, or 77 % vs. 67.5 %, P = 0.003, respectively). The odds of using skin-whitening products in females who had mothers or sisters bleaching were 7.8 times higher (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 7.8; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 2.572, 23.828) and two times higher in females who had other relatives bleaching (aOR 2.4; 95 % CI 1.159, 5.115), compared with females who had no family members who bleached.

Conclusion

It was estimated that a majority (7 out of 10) of Sudanese undergraduate females have tried skin-whitening products. However, because the university population is an elite group, a population-based survey is warranted to address the use of skin-whitening products among the general population of Sudanese women.

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Abbreviations

aOR:

Adjusted odds ratio

CI:

Confidence intervals

SPSS®:

IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23 (Chicago, Illinois, USA)

P :

P value

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, P.O. Box 22490, Riyadh, 11426, Internal Mail Code 2350, Saudi Arabia

    Anwar E. Ahmed

  2. Applied Statistics and Demography, Faculty of Economics and Rural Development, University of Gezira, Wad Madani, Sudan

    Mohamed E. Hamid

Authors
  1. Anwar E. Ahmed
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  2. Mohamed E. Hamid
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Correspondence to Anwar E. Ahmed.

Ethics declarations

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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None.

Conflict of Interest

All authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Ahmed, A.E., Hamid, M.E. Use of Skin-Whitening Products by Sudanese Undergraduate Females: a Survey. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 4, 149–155 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-016-0212-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-016-0212-5

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