Erythemal ultraviolet and Vitamin D effective exposures received by amateur golfers

Erythemal ultraviolet and Vitamin D effective exposures received by amateur golfers

Across Australia during each week thousands of amateur golfers are exposed to potentially damaging amounts of solar ultraviolet radiation (UV) during their time spent on the golf course. It is well known that excessive exposure to UV can increase the risk of life threatening diseases which include melanoma and non – melanoma skin cancers. To date there has been no truly comprehensive study defining the exact amount of UV exposure that these golfers receive over a week to week basis. In order to quantify this, personal miniaturised UV dosimeters employing polysulphone film were fabricated and deployed for comparison between two golfers and two office workers acting as control subjects on three separate anatomical locations, including the vertex, the upper back and the upper forearm. The measurement campaign featured a series of 9 – hole golf rounds that ran almost on a weekly basis from February through to August 2008 in order to account for changes in the Sun’s position and the influence of variable cloud and ozone conditions. Data acquired during the measurement campaign were converted to erythemal UV and vitamin D effective exposures by using calibrations produced using both the erythemal (sun burning) and vitamin D3 action spectra and irradiance data obtained by a scanning spectroradiometer (Bentham Instruments, Reading UK) located at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba campus. This presentation provides these results and directly compares the measured erythemal and vitamin D3 exposures in order to ascertain how a balance could be achieved by golfers in order to minimize the damaging effect of UV and in turn maximize potential vitamin D3 synthesis while playing the sport.

Abstract only available of Poster paper.