Indoor tanning injuries can require ER treatment

Indoor tanning injuries have declined but still sent more than 1,000 people to emergency rooms in recent years.

That's according to what's billed as the first national estimate on these injuries. It's from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC analyzed national injury data and counted more than 6,000 indoor tanning injuries treated in emergency departments in 2003. That fell to about 2,000 in 2012. Most were burns and most people didn't need hospitalization.

Millions of Americans pursue indoor tanning each year. An industry spokesman says the study suggests an enviable safety record.

The CDC cautions that just like tanning outside, indoor tanning is linked with skin cancer. The study appears in Monday's JAMA Internal Medicine.