Influence of Air Temperature on the UV Exposure of Different Body Sites Due to Clothing of Young Women During Daily Errands

Abstract

Clothing is one of the main influencing factors for personal ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure. Despite that, little attention was put on this topic till now. In this study, the clothing habits of young females have been investigated in dependence of meteorological conditions. Observations were made from spring to autumn during daylight in the urban region of Vienna, Austria. For this, a scheme dividing the body into six different sections was developed as well as a coding scale that corresponds to the different garments and indicates the body sites that are exposed. It was found that air temperature is the dominating factor for exposure. With increasing temperature, the first area of the body to be exposed to solar UVR is, aside from face and hands, the d ecollet e, followed by nape, ankles, instep and forearms. Observations further indicate that the frequency of people's being outdoors decreases significantly at temperatures higher than 30°C. This paper provides detailed frequency distributions of uncovered body sites in dependence of temperature. These can be used together with measurements of temperature and UVR to calculate the relative exposure at any time and at many locations, and could help to explain the body distribution of UVR caused skin alterations.

The Epidemiology of Skin Cancer and Public Health Strategies for Its Prevention in Southern Africa

“…In hot conditions, as was found in Austria when temperatures exceeded 30 • C [61], people may spend more time indoors and or seek shade when outdoors. While it is unknown how those living in Southern Africa will respond to hotter conditions, evidence suggests that the time-lapse between changes in ambient temperature and skin cancer incidence is about 60 years [62,63].…”

Public Health Implications of Solar UV Exposure during Extreme Cold and Hot Weather Episodes in 2018 in Chilton, South East England

“…During this period people's exposure to UV ery was likely to be very low due to a combination of environmental and behavioural factors. e environmental availability of UV ery was generally low, and the extreme cold temperatures [66] were likely to have caused people to stay indoors for longer [36,67,68] and cover up outside with less than 10% of skin exposed [43,44,69]. is behaviour, staying indoors to keep warm and wrapping up warm when outside, is also part of the public health advice given over this period [62].…”

“…People in England were likely to have been exposed to high doses of solar UV ery in spring 2018 due to multiple factors. e environmental availability of UV ery was high on unseasonably warm days, a number of which occurred on nonworking days such as the weekend or a public holiday when people are likely to have spent more time outside [69].…”

Climatological aspects of the increase of the skin cancer (melanoma) incidence rate in Europe

“…April is the first relatively warm month of the year with temperatures sometimes higher than 15 C and even 20 C. According to Chubarova and Zhdanova (2013) and Guzikowski et al (2018), when the temperature is higher than 20 C, people expose between 20 and 30% of their body. Schmalwieser et al (2019) found that the air temperature (in the 10-30 C range) was the main factor for young mothers (~30 years old) choosing clothing styles. Thus, it seems that specific weather conditions (low total ozone for warm days) combined with personal behaviour in early spring (more frequent and riskier sunbathing due to increasing surface temperature) have a profound influence on the risk of developing skin cancer, which confirms our working hypothesis (c).…”

“…Personal exposure depends both on the ambient UVR level related to the environmental parameters (column ozone amount, cloud and aerosol characteristics, ground albedo, solar elevation, and site elevation) and outdoor lifestyle (working and holiday customs, clothing style, and sun-seeking behaviour). For some people, ambient temperature is a decisive parameter to start sunbathing and expose a greater part of the body (Schmalwieser et al, 2019). Thus, global warming combined with low ozone content in the stratosphere poses an environmental risk factor for the development of melanoma.…”