Individual, Environmental, and Meteorological Predictors of Daily Personal Ultraviolet Radiation Exposure Measurements in a United States Cohort Study

Authors

Elizabeth K. Cahoon, National Institute of Health
David C. Wheeler, Virginia Commonwealth University
Michael G. Kimlin, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
Richard K. Kwok, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Bruce H. Alexander, University of Minnesota School of Public Health
Mark P. Little, National Institute of Health
Martha S. Linet, National Institute of Health
Daryl M. Freedman, National Institute of Health

Document Type

Article

Original Publication Date

2013

Journal/Book/Conference Title

PLOS ONE

Volume

8

DOI of Original Publication

10.1371/journal.pone.0054983

Comments

Originally Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054983

Date of Submission

November 2014

Abstract

Background

Individual 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.

Methods

We 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.

Results

The 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).

Conclusions

In 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.

Rights

This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.

Is Part Of

VCU Biostatistics Publications