An investigation into the awareness and understanding of the ultraviolet index forecasts in the South West of England

Morris, Jenny; Laing-Morton, T; Marno, Penny; Curnow, Alison

doi:10.1039/c0pp00232a

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Nevertheless, at the moment, understanding of the UVI remains poor in many countries. 7,46,47 We have shown that with some knowledge of personal skin type, a simple calculation can provide the maximum allowable time outdoors before minimal erythema of the skin occurs. There are safety factors built into this approximation, including that exposure to full sunlight is unlikely for the full duration of the time outdoors, the calculation assumes exposure to a horizontal unshaded surface, and the mathematical approximation itself is conservative.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are current guidelines for sun protection optimal for health? Exploring the evidence

Lucas

Neale

Madronich

et al. 2018

Photochem Photobiol Sci

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Exposure of the skin to ultraviolet (UV) radiation is the main risk factor for skin cancer, and a major source of vitamin D, in many regions of the world. Sun protection messages to minimize skin cancer risks but avoid vitamin D deficiency are challenging, partly because levels of UV radiation vary by location, season, time of day, and atmospheric conditions. The UV Index provides information on levels of UV radiation and is a cornerstone of sun protection guidelines. Current guidelines from the World Health Organization are that sun protection is required only when the UV Index is 3 or greater. This advice is pragmatic rather than evidence based. The UV Index is a continuous scale; more comprehensive sun protection is required as the UV Index increases. In addition, a wide range of UVA doses is possible with a UVI of 3, from which there may be health consequences, while full sun protection when the UVI is "moderate" (between 3 and 5) may limit vitamin D production. Finally, the duration of time spent in the sun is an essential component of a public health message, in addition to the intensity of ambient UV radiation as measured by the UV Index. Together these provide the dose of UV radiation that is relevant to both skin cancer genesis and vitamin D production. Further education is required to increase the understanding of the UV Index; messages framed using the UV Index need to incorporate the importance of duration of exposure and increasing sun protection with increasing dose of UV radiation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are current guidelines for sun protection optimal for health? Exploring the evidence

Lucas

Neale

Madronich

et al. 2018

Photochem Photobiol Sci

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“…However, the majority of participants (57%) believed that it would be good or very good if newspapers presented a daily report of the UVI 18 . Morris and associates 17 found that of 67% of UVIaware participants in Southwest England, 60% reported that UVI did not impact their behavior. Also in the UK, Diffey and colleagues 25 found that about one third of respondents reported that they had used the UVI at least once to plan their sun exposure.…”

Section: Relationship Of Uvi With Sun Exposure and Protective Behaviorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A study found that only 27% of the Swedish participants had heard of the UVI; although, 41% of those believed that they became better informed about UVR because of the UVI 18 . In the UK, researchers found that 67% of participants had heard of the UVI 17 . However, of those, only 40% were able to correctly identify a "high" UVI value, and only 8% were able to recall the UVI value on that day.…”

Section: Awareness and Understanding Of The Uvimentioning

confidence: 99%

Awareness, understanding, use, and impact of the UV index: A systematic review of over two decades of international research

Heckman

Liang

Riley

2019

Preventive Medicine

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The ultraviolet radiation index (UVI) was adopted internationally to raise awareness about and encourage the public to protect their skin from skin cancer. The current paper is a systematic review of over 20 years of research investigating awareness, comprehension, use, and impact of the UVI. Thirty-one studies were included from the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere. Awareness of the UVI varies by country, with samples from some countries demonstrating high awareness. However, comprehension and use of the UVI to inform sun safety behaviors are typically much lower. In fact, greater UVI awareness has sometimes been associated with riskier UV-related behaviors such as intentional tanning. Fewer studies have evaluated interventions, and their results have been mixed. In summary, more research is needed to determine how to help the public understand and use the UVI for effective skin protection. This review offers suggestions for future use of and research with the UVI.

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“…338 However, its use to guide behaviour in relation to exposure to the sun remains limited. 339 Furthermore, the specific guidance in relation to the UVI varies across different countries. For example, in Australia, photoprotection is recommended when the UV Index is ≥3.…”

Section: Personal Protection From Solar Uv Radiationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The consequences for human health of stratospheric ozone depletion in association with other environmental factors

Lucas

Norval

Neale

et al. 2014

Photochem Photobiol Sci

136

101

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Due to the implementation of the Montreal Protocol, which has limited, and is now probably reversing, the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer, only modest increases in solar UV-B radiation at the surface of the Earth have occurred. For many fair-skinned populations, changing behaviour with regard to exposure to the sun over the past half century - more time in the sun, less clothing cover (more skin exposed), and preference for a tan - has probably contributed more to greater levels of exposure to UV-B radiation than ozone depletion. Exposure to UV-B radiation has both adverse and beneficial effects on human health. This report focuses on an assessment of the evidence regarding these outcomes that has been published since our previous report in 2010. The skin and eyes are the organs exposed to solar UV radiation. Excessive solar irradiation causes skin cancer, including cutaneous malignant melanoma and the non-melanoma skin cancers, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, and contributes to the development of other rare skin cancers such as Merkel cell carcinoma. Although the incidence of melanoma continues to increase in many countries, in some locations, primarily those with strong sun protection programmes, incidence has stabilised or decreased over the past 5 years, particularly in younger age-groups. However, the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers is still increasing in most locations. Exposure of the skin to the sun also induces systemic immune suppression that may have adverse effects on health, such as through the reactivation of latent viral infections, but also beneficial effects through suppression of autoimmune reactivity. Solar UV-B radiation damages the eyes, causing cataracts and pterygium. UV-B irradiation of the skin is the main source of vitamin D in many geographic locations. Vitamin D plays a critical role in the maintenance of calcium homeostasis in the body; severe deficiency causes the bone diseases, rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Although many studies have implicated vitamin D deficiency in a wide range of diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, more recent evidence is less compelling, with meta-analyses of supplementation trials failing to show a beneficial effect on the health outcomes that have been tested. It continues to be difficult to provide public health messages to guide safe exposure to the sun that are accurate, simple, and can be used by people with different skin types, in different locations, and for different times of the year or day. There is increasing interest in relating sun protection messages to the UV Index. Current sun protection strategies are outlined and assessed. Climatic factors affect the amount of UV radiation received by the skin and eyes, separately from the effect of ozone depletion. For example, cloud cover can decrease or increase the intensity of UV radiation at Earth's surface and warmer temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns may alter the amount of time people spend outdoors and their choi...

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An investigation into the awareness and understanding of the ultraviolet index forecasts in the South West of England

Cited by 7 publications

References 14 publications

Are current guidelines for sun protection optimal for health? Exploring the evidence

Are current guidelines for sun protection optimal for health? Exploring the evidence

Awareness, understanding, use, and impact of the UV index: A systematic review of over two decades of international research

The consequences for human health of stratospheric ozone depletion in association with other environmental factors

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