Solar UVR Exposures of Primary School Children at Three Locations in Queensland

Abstract

The ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposures of primary school children in Brisbane, Toowoomba and Mackay (latitudes 27 degrees 30', 27 degrees 33' and 21 degrees 15' south, respectively) were assessed over a period of 2 weeks at each location using UVR-sensitive polysulfone (PS) film badges attached at the shoulder. The students filled in questionnaires on their time spent outdoors for each day of the study. These data in conjunction with the ambient UVR measured by a detector/datalogger unit at each site were used to correlate the calculated exposures with those measured using the PS badges. Overall, the questionnaires indicated that the males spent more time outdoors and had higher measured UVR exposures than females. For both boys and girls at each location, there was a strong correlation between the mean measured UVR exposure and the ambient solar UVR at that location.

Individual solar-UV doses of pupils and undergraduates in China

“…Also the pupils had a less sense of protection against UV hazards, were younger and more active than the undergraduates. In the study by Gies et al (1998), the ages of the subjects were the same as those of our pupils. According to their results, the median of the individual UV doses in Brisbane and Toowoomba was higher during weekdays than on weekends, whereas the opposite was true in Mackay.…”

“…However, there are many factors that affect the effective individual UV exposure, such as age, lifestyle, behavior and occupation. Recently, Diffey, Godar, Gies and Onos provided individual UV exposure measures in England, USA, Australia and Japan (Diffey et al, 1996;Ono 1997;Gies et al, 1998;Godar, 2001;Godar et al, 2001). However, until now, very few studies of outdoor individual UV doses have been carried out in China, a country with over a billion people.…”

Novel approach to analysing large data sets of personal sun exposure measurements

“…There have also been a few longitudinal studies concerning child sun exposure (14,15,16). Whereas some studies have directly measured personal UVR exposure (17,18), others have focused on assessing sun-protective practices and indirectly estimating personal UVR exposure (19,20). These data are used for planning and development of skin cancer prevention and sun awareness campaigns.…”

“…Ideally, a dosimeter should be precise, accurate, reliable, and independent of temperature and humidity; it should have a reproducible biological response; and be inexpensive (11). To date, dosimeters used to measure personal UVR exposure have had a response that closely mimicked the erythemal action spectrum (EAS) (sunburning response) as defined by the International Commission on Illumination (18,23,24). Other dosimeters are tailored for different action spectra, such as a biological spore dosimeter which is used to estimate DNA-damaging UVR exposure EAS (25).…”

An estimation of biological hazards due to solar radiation

“…Measurement surveys of the personal exposures have been performed with polysulphone dosimeters [6][7][8][9] and CR-39 dosimeters [10]. These dosimeters were calibrated to measure personal erythemal exposures resulting predominantly from the UVB (280-320 nm) waveband.…”