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%.