Multiple indicators of ambient and personal ultraviolet radiation exposure and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (United States)

Recent epidemiologic studies have suggested that ultraviolet radiation (UV) may protect against non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) but few if any have assessed multiple indicators of ambient and personal UV exposure Using the US Radiologic Technologists study we examined the association between NHL and self-reported time outdoors in summer as well as average year-round and seasonal ambient exposures based on satellite estimates for different age periods and sun susceptibility in participants who had responded to two questionnaires (1994-1998 2003-2005) and who were cancer-free as of the earlier questionnaire Using unconditional logistic regression we estimated the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence Intervals for 64 103 participants with 137 NHL cases self-reported time outdoors in summer was unrelated to risk Lower risk was somewhat related to higher average year-round and winter ambient exposure for the period closest in time and prior to diagnosis (ages 20-39) Relative to 1 0 for the lowest quartile of average year-round ambient UV the estimated OR for successively higher quartiles was 068 (0 42-1 10) 082 (0 52-1 29) and 0 64 (0 40-1 03) is-trend = 0 06) for this age period The lower NHL risk associated with higher year-round average and winter ambient UV provides modest additional support for a protective relationship between UV and NHL Published by Elsevier B V