Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena & Reggio Emilia, 41124 Modena, Italy.
Clinical Physiology and Neurophysiology Unit, The North Karelia Central Hospital, 80210 Joensuu, Finland.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Sep 20;15(10):2063. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15102063.
A considerably high number of outdoor workers worldwide are constantly exposed for the majority of their working life to solar radiation (SR); this exposure is known to induce various adverse health effects, mainly related to its ultraviolet (UV) component. The skin and the eye are the principal target organs for both acute and long-term exposure. Actinic keratosis, non-melanoma skin cancers, and malignant melanoma are the main long-term adverse skin effects, whereas in the eye pterygium, cataracts, and according to an increasing body of evidence, macular degeneration may be induced. Despite this, SR exposure risk is currently undervalued, if not neglected, as an occupational risk factor for outdoor workers. SR exposure is influenced by various environmental and individual factors, and occupation is one of the most relevant. For a better understanding of this risk and for the development of more effective prevention strategies, one of the main problems is the lack of available and adequate methods to estimate SR worker exposure, especially long-term exposure. The main aims of this review were to provide a comprehensive overview of SR exposure risk of outdoor workers, including the UV exposure levels and the main methods recently proposed for short-term and cumulative exposure, and to provide an update of knowledge on the main adverse eye and skin effects. Finally, we also outline here preventive interventions to reduce occupational risk.
全球相当数量的户外工作者在其大部分工作生涯中持续暴露于太阳辐射（SR）下；已知这种暴露会引起各种不良健康影响，主要与紫外线（UV）成分有关。皮肤和眼睛是急性和长期暴露的主要靶器官。光化性角化病、非黑色素瘤皮肤癌和恶性黑色素瘤是主要的长期不良皮肤影响，而在眼睛中，翼状胬肉、白内障以及根据越来越多的证据表明，黄斑变性也可能被诱导。尽管如此，如果不忽视，SR 暴露风险目前仍被低估，是户外工作者的职业风险因素之一。SR 暴露受多种环境和个体因素的影响，而职业是其中最相关的因素之一。为了更好地理解这种风险，并制定更有效的预防策略，其中一个主要问题是缺乏可用和适当的方法来评估工人的 SR 暴露，尤其是长期暴露。本次综述的主要目的是全面概述户外工作者的 SR 暴露风险，包括 UV 暴露水平以及最近提出的短期和累积暴露的主要方法，并提供有关主要眼部和皮肤不良影响的最新知识。最后，我们还在这里概述了减少职业风险的预防干预措施。
