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Exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation in young Dutch children: Assessment by means of a 6-week retrospective questionnaire

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 12, pages 204–213 (2002)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 29 August 2002

Abstract

We designed a 6-week retrospective questionnaire on sunlight exposure. Estimation of the short-term exposure to sunlight is important for observational human studies concerning the effects of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) on the human immune system and related resistance to infections. This questionnaire was given to the parents of 1672 1-year-old children in the Netherlands who participated in a birth cohort study. We evaluated the questionnaire and estimated the personal 6-week cumulative exposure to solar UVR. Only 910 questionnaires (54.4%) were filled out completely and consistently. This suggests that reporting data on children's outdoor exposure, even for the recent past, is often difficult. The data from these questionnaires indicated that the crude number of reported outdoor hours was enough to obtain a relative estimate of the individual exposure to ambient UVR, but that weighting for the effect of clothing was essential for the classification of the systemic UVR dosage received. Sunny weeks in the Netherlands in 1998, as were established by independent measurements of the levels of ambient UVR, vacations abroad, and sunburn, were associated with a comparatively high mean estimated exposure. These results support the suitability of the questionnaire for classifying the participants with respect to their short-term exposure to solar UVR.

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Abbreviations

C :

(the effect of) clothing as reported (on the UVR dose)

L&S:

(the effect of) latitude and season (on the UVR dose)

PSB:

polysulfone film badges

SCC:

Spearman Correlation Coefficient

WCq:

(the effect of) weather conditions, as reported in the questionnaire (on the UVR dose)

UVR:

ultraviolet radiation

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. W.G. Goettsch for his support in setting up this study and the design of the questionnaire, and Dr. H.A. Smit and D.J.M. Houthuijs for critically reviewing this manuscript. This study was supported by Project 952276 of the National Onderzoek Programma Mondiale Luchtverontreiniging en Klimaat Verandering (NOP) and Project ENV4-CT96-0192 of the Programme Environment of the EU.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Pathology and Immunobiology, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, PO Box 1, Bilthoven, 3720 BA, The Netherlands

    FABIAN TERMORSHUIZEN, JOHAN GARSSEN & HENK VAN LOVEREN

  2. Department for Chronic Diseases Epidemiology, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    ALET WIJGA

  3. Laboratory for Radiation Research, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    PETER N DEN OUTER & HARRY SLAPER

Authors
  1. FABIAN TERMORSHUIZEN
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  2. ALET WIJGA
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  4. PETER N DEN OUTER
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  6. HENK VAN LOVEREN
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Correspondence to HENK VAN LOVEREN.

Appendices

Appendix A. Key questions on exposure (English translation) and estimation equation

Appendix B. Questions on sunburn and protection

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TERMORSHUIZEN, F., WIJGA, A., GARSSEN, J. et al. Exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation in young Dutch children: Assessment by means of a 6-week retrospective questionnaire. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 12, 204–213 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500220

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