Summertime UV exposure of Hungarian cataract patients. A pilot study

The biologically effective UV dose accumulated by patients with incipient cataract during the three summer months (Jun. - Aug.) of 1995 in Hungary was determined with uracil thin layer personal dosimeters developed by the Res. Biophys. Lab. of the Hungarian Acad. Sci., Budapest. The average biologically effective UV dose of 37 patients (22 cataract, 15 control), whose mean age was 61 ± 9.5 years (cataract 62.6 ± 8.5 years, control: 59.6 ± 10.8 years), was 0.139 H(U) (55.6 MED = 11676 Jm-2 eff). Patients with cortical anterior opacity (7/22) had the highest mean effective UV dose of 0.180 H(U) (72 MED), while patients with post. subcapsular (7/22) and nuclear (2/22) opacities got only 0.051 H(U) (20.4 MED) and 0.072 H(U) (28.8 MED) respectively, half of the cataract patients mean effective dose of 0.142 H(U), or less. The odds of cataract patients for having a workplace with UV exposure (from sunlight o artificial) was higher (OR = 8.0 p = 0.09) (95%C.I.: 0.78 - 197.45). Cataract and control patients answered 'yes' to outgoing behavior regarding their spare time at the same ratio, but 'outgoing' persons accumulated about 4 times higher dose in average (0.219 H(U)), than those who were not (0.059 H(U). At the higher dose range of 0.1-1.0 H(U) the average dose of cataract patients H(U)=0.385, (154 MED) was higher, compared to the control group H(U) =0.252, (100.8 MED) of the same range, suggesting a more outdoor going behavior in the summer, and a possible role of solar UV radiation at cataract formation and progression. (author). 34 refs., 4 figs., 11 tabs