New research suggests that UK Biobank participants who use solariums and who live at locations with higher annual average residential shortwave radiation have a lower risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality; solarium users also have a lower risk of non-cardiovascular disease/non-cancer mortality.
Higher UV exposures were associated with lower all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality.
“Public health messaging in the United Kingdom and other countries with a large population of European descent has emphasized the risks of ultraviolet (UV) exposure,” said University of Edinburgh Professor Chris Dibben and colleagues.
“The known association between UV radiation and melanoma pathogenesis is of particular concern.”
“Recent evidence suggests that the benefits of UV exposure may outweigh risks, especially in low-sunlight environments.”
“In a cohort of Swedish women, participants with higher levels of sun exposure lived longer than those who avoided the Sun.”
“The mortality advantage was mainly attributed to lower cardiovascular disease and non-cardiovascular disease/non-cancer mortality.”
“In a case-control study of Swedish women with low-to-moderate sun exposure habits, women with fair phenotypes had an 8% lower all-cause mortality rate than non-fair women.”
For their study, the authors used genetic and health information from the UK BioBank to examine the UV exposure of 395,000 people across the United Kingdom.
The participants were restricted to those of white European descent, due to the role skin pigmentation plays in the body’s response to UV exposure.
The researchers applied two measures to identify those exposed to higher levels of UV.
They used the geographical location of participants to calculate their average annual exposure to solar energy and, separately, whether they used sunbeds.
Living in locations with higher UV levels, for example Cornwall, was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality — 19% and 12%, respectively — than living in areas with lower UV levels, such as Edinburgh or Glasgow.
Sunbed use was linked to a 23% lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality and a 14% lower risk of cancer mortality, compared to non-users.
It is possible that people who use sunbeds may also seek out greater sun exposure and so this result may reflect broader sun seeking behavior.
Those with a higher estimated UV exposure had a slightly increased risk of being diagnosed with melanoma but their risk of dying from the condition was not raised.
“Our paper adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that in lower light environments, relatively higher exposure to UV is good for your health,” Professor Dibben said.
“Though there may be an increased risk of skin cancer incidence with higher UV exposure, this risk appears to be outweighed by a larger reduction in the risk of death from cancer and cardiovascular related disease.”
“Dermatologists have traditionally only considered possible harm to the skin caused by sunlight, much of which dates from the experience of white-skinned individuals in sunny countries such as Australia,” said University of Edinburgh Professor Richard Weller.
“When the UV index is very high, protecting skin is important. However, this research shows that in the UK, the balance of benefit and risk from sunlight exposure is probably very different from that in sunnier countries.”
The findings were published in the journal Health and Place.
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Andrew C. Stevenson et al. 2024. Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality: An analysis of data from the UK Biobank cohort study. Health & Place 89: 103328; doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103328
