Abstract
Studies assessing the dose–response relationship for human skin cancer induction by solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) apply a range of methods to quantify relevant UVR doses, but information about the comparability of these datasets is scarce. We compared biologically weighted effectivities applying the most relevant UVR action spectra in order to test the ability of certain UVR detectors to mimic these biological effects at different times during the day and year. Our calculations were based on solar spectra measured at Dortmund, Germany (51.5° N) and at Townsville, Australia (19.3° S), or computed for latitudes 20° S and 50° N. Convolutions with the CIE action spectra for erythema and non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) and with ICNIRP’s weighting function showed comparable solar zenith angle (SZA) dependences with little influence of season or latitude. A different SZA dependence was found with Setlow’s action spectrum for melanoma induction. Calculations for a number of UVR detector responsivities gave widely discrepant absolute irradiances and doses, which were nevertheless related to those calculated with both CIE spectra by correction factors largely independent of the SZA. Commonly used detectors can thus provide quite accurate estimates of NMSC induction by solar UVR, whereas they may be inadequate to mimic melanoma induction.
Highlights
As the non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) and Skin Cancer Utrecht-Philadelphia (SCUP)-h weighting functions are so close to each other, all weighted solar irradiances in the daily and in the annual course of 2018 measured at Dortmund differ by less than 4%; only the standardized NMSC action spectrum will be applied for the analysis presented hereafter
The irradiances and related doses weighted to account for different biological effects or detected by several devices vary considerably depending on how the action spectra or detector responsivities overlap with the solar spectra
Between NMSC induction and erythema, for instance, the discrepancy is by a factor of about 2 regarding their cumulative annual UV doses (1.0 MJm−2 compared to 484 kJm−2 )
Summary
Epidemiological studies show correlations between skin cancer frequencies in humans and geographical latitude [3,4,5,6], types of occupation [7,8,9], leisure behavior [10,11,12], or sun exposure patterns [13]. These are only surrogates of exposure because there is no information about important influencing factors. In studies of occupational or leisure exposure [21,22], and even
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