Abstract
BackgroundIndividual exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is challenging to measure, particularly for diseases with substantial latency periods between first exposure and diagnosis of outcome, such as cancer. To guide the choice of surrogates for long-term UVR exposure in epidemiologic studies, we assessed how well stable sun-related individual characteristics and environmental/meteorological factors predicted daily personal UVR exposure measurements.MethodsWe evaluated 123 United States Radiologic Technologists subjects who wore personal UVR dosimeters for 8 hours daily for up to 7 days (N = 837 days). Potential predictors of personal UVR derived from a self-administered questionnaire, and public databases that provided daily estimates of ambient UVR and weather conditions. Factors potentially related to personal UVR exposure were tested individually and in a model including all significant variables.ResultsThe strongest predictors of daily personal UVR exposure in the full model were ambient UVR, latitude, daily rainfall, and skin reaction to prolonged sunlight (R2 = 0.30). In a model containing only environmental and meteorological variables, ambient UVR, latitude, and daily rainfall were the strongest predictors of daily personal UVR exposure (R2 = 0.25).ConclusionsIn the absence of feasible measures of individual longitudinal sun exposure history, stable personal characteristics, ambient UVR, and weather parameters may help estimate long-term personal UVR exposure.
Highlights
Solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) represents the strongest environmental risk factor for the development of most skin cancers [1]
Long-term exposure to UVR is suspected to protect against certain autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis [2] as well as cancers of the colon, breast, prostate, ovary, bladder, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, possibly mediated through production of vitamin D [3,4,5,6]
This study explores an alternative approach by examining the value of individual characteristics that are stable and likely to be reproducible, as well as objective environmental and meteorological indices that reflect UVR as it changes over time
Summary
Solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) represents the strongest environmental risk factor for the development of most skin cancers [1]. Epidemiological research of UVR induced diseases typically rely on retrospective, self-reported time outdoors, static ecological-type variables such as latitude of residence, or UV indices as surrogates for long-term personal UVR exposure [5,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]. These methods, present substantial limitations because of either only poor-to-fair reproducibility or untested validity [20,21,22]. To guide the choice of surrogates for long-term UVR exposure in epidemiologic studies, we assessed how well stable sun-related individual characteristics and environmental/meteorological factors predicted daily personal UVR exposure measurements
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