County Level UV Exposure Data for the Continental United States
Exposure to ultraviolet radiation has long been recognized as the most important environmental risk factor for melanoma [1-2]. Exposures in early childhood may be most important [3] and there is evidence that cumulative UV exposure and the time spent outdoors may increase melanoma risk [4]. The following dataset has been developed in response to a need for an objective metric of individual UV exposure for which the accuracy of exposure estimates is known.
UV Data - Counties (XLSX - 143 KB)
Peer Reviewed Publication Describing the Methodology behind the UV Exposure Dataset
- A Comparison of Thiessen Polygon, Kriging, and Spline Models of Potential UV Exposure
. Tatalovich, Z., Wilson, J.P., and Cockburn, M.G. Cartography and Geographic Information Science. 2006, 33(3): 217-237
References
- Etiology, epidemiology, risk factors, and public health issues of melanoma. Elwood J.M., Koh H.K. Curr Opin Oncol. 1994, 6: 179–187.
- Melanoma etiology: where are we? Tucker, M.A., Goldstein, A.M. Oncogene. 2003, 22: 3042–3052.
- Cutaneous malignant melanoma and indicators of total accumulated exposure to the sun: an analysis separating histogenetic types. C.D. Holman, B.K. Armstrong. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1984, 73: 75–82.
- Influence of sun exposure during childhood and during adulthood on melanoma risk. Autier, P. Dore, J.F. Int J Cancer. 77 (1998) 533–537