Background: Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure is the major environmental cause of skin cancer. Better understanding of the factors associated with UVR exposure may help improve skin cancer prevention programs by enabling interventions to be tailored to specific groups.
Aim: To determine the factors associated with personal UVR exposure.
Methods: In Spring/Summer 2017-18, baseline UVR exposure data from the first 250 participants recruited to the Australia-wide NHMRC-funded “Managing Your Risk” Study were collected using wrist-worn time-stamped electronic dosimeters. We conducted cross-sectional analyses of personal standard erythemal doses (SED; a measure of UVR exposure) with participant characteristics including age (18-44, 45-69 years), sex, location of residence (States and Territories), traditional risk factor score (high, low), and socioeconomic index (SEIFA score: high, low). SED values were log transformed and geometric means were compared using ANOVA.
Results: Older age was associated with increased total personal UVR exposure (mean = 0.8 SEDs for ≥45 years vs. 0.5 SEDs for <45 years, P = 0.0003). Overall, men had higher total personal UVR exposure than women (0.8 vs. 0.6, P = 0.01), however, stratified by age the sex difference was only apparent in the older age group (P interaction = 0.03). There was no evidence that personal UVR exposure differed by state/territory, socioeconomic status, or traditional risk factor score.
Conclusion: Age and sex, but not other characteristics, were associated with personal sun exposure in our population-based sample. The higher UVR doses observed in men 45-69 years is consistent with their higher melanoma incidence rates.