Sun Exposure of Body Districts: Development and Validation of an Algorithm to Predict the Erythemal Ultra Violet Dose

Abstract

Solar Ultra-Violet (UV) radiation has positive and negative effects on human body tissues. Small doses of solar UV radiation are needed by the human skin for the activation of the vitamin D production. Overexposure to solar UV radiation can produce acute and long-term negative effects, such as sunburns and, in the worst cases, cataracts and skin cancers. For this reason, knowing the amount of UV doses received by people is essential to evaluate their risk to UV overexposure and to evaluate the adequate countermeasure to avoid the negative effects. The original contribution of the present study consists in having searched, collected, adapted and processed a series of technical information and analytical relations, developing an algorithm suitable for the calculation of the erythemal UV dose on sloped surfaces exposed to solar radiation, which at the moment is not present in the scientific literature. The results obtained by the algorithm have been compared to the results of a field measurements campaign, carried out in three different Italian sites. Results comparison indicated that measured and calculated values show a sufficient level of agreement, with a mean absolute error equal to 20%.

Erythemal Solar Irradiance, UVER, and UV Index from Ground-Based Data in Central Spain

“…Recent publications have developed algorithms for evaluating erythemal UV doses on sloped surfaces and their application to the human body [20]. In addition, methods for daily vitamin D synthesis in outdoor and indoor conditions are being studied, with a small outdoor UVI sensor sending information to the smartphone, evaluating the user's daily dose, estimating the amount of vitamin synthesis, and gauging the UVB LED lighting required in indoor conditions [21,22].…”

Occupational Exposure to Solar UV Radiation in a Group of Dock-workers in North-East Italy

“…In order to better understand this quite high variability it would be important to collect detailed information on environmental and individual factors influencing the exposure with an integrated method, as previously observed [4,13]. Various algorithms have been proposed, aimed at reconstructing the solar UVR dose received by outdoor workers in different conditions, considering in particular also the exposure of different body districts [12][13][14]21], and one of this has been recently validated [21]. It would be important also to validate a specific questionnaire for the collection of solar UVR exposure data, similar to the one we previously applied [5,13], but adequately translated in the national languages and validated with an appropriate comparison, as it happened for other occupational risks [22].…”

Occupational solar UV exposure in construction workers in Italy: results of a one-month monitoring with personal dosimeters

“…In this study the meters were placed on upper left arm of the workers: even if we are aware that the representativeness of the dose measured in this part depends on the postures adopted (particularly variable for construction workers), the upper left arm was considered a reasonable compromise considering practical problems (as the need to not interfere with working activities) and the possibility of adequately represent the effective dose received by the majority of the body. On the other hand, to solve this issue, recently a promising method to predict the erythemal ultraviolet dose at different body areas has been proposed [18]. Back to the factors possibly responsible of the variability of the ratio between individual UV exposure and environmental solar UVR in construction workers, other examples are differences in the UV reflection of surrounding surfaces, (e.g.…”