Risk–benefit balance of habitual ultraviolet exposure for cardiovascular, cancer, and skin cancer mortality: UK Biobank cohort study
This prospective UK Biobank cohort study assessed habitual ultraviolet exposure using a multidimensional Sun-BEEM score and related it to cause-specific mortality and disease incidence. Medium and high UV exposure were associated with lower all-cause, cardiovascular, and non-skin cancer mortality compared with low exposure, while skin cancer mortality showed no clear dose–response. Incident keratinocyte cancers increased with higher exposure, and mediation analyses highlighted several UV-downregulated circulating pathways.
Key points
- The study used a prospective cohort design in UK Biobank with multivariable Cox models and additional counterfactual and proteomic mediation analyses.
- Habitual UV exposure was operationalized via Sun-BEEM, integrating environmental and behavioral indicators and categorized as low, medium, or high.
- Medium and high Sun-BEEM were associated with lower all-cause mortality compared with low exposure.
- Inverse associations were also reported for cardiovascular and non-skin cancer mortality.
- Skin cancer mortality did not show a clear dose–response relationship with UV exposure in this analysis.
- Incident keratinocyte cancers increased across Sun-BEEM exposure categories.
- Counterfactual modelling suggested net mortality benefits under a uniformly high UV pattern if the associations are causal.
- Proteomic mediation implicated UV-downregulated immunoregulatory, mucosal–barrier, and cardiorenal–neuroendocrine pathways.
Referenced studies & papers
Relevant papers in OpenMel
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AI-generated summaries may be incomplete or incorrect. This content is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice.
AI-generated summaries may be incomplete or incorrect. This content is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice.
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