24 hour forecast of the surface UV for the antipsoriatic heliotherapy in Poland

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2015.04.002Get rights and content

Highlights

  • •

    Measurements of the antipsoriatic irradiation possible by standard broad-band meters.

  • •

    Duration of the next-day antipsoriatic sunbathing could be modeled.

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    24 h forecast maps for the exposure duration help patients to plan outdoor activities.

Abstract

Analyses of the spectral and broad-band UV data collected at Belsk (20.79°E, 51.84°N), Poland, show that standard broad-band instrument, Solar Light (SL) 501A, could be used for measurements of both erythemal and antipsoriatic irradiance. A prognostic model is proposed for the next-day duration of outdoor exposure required to receive a dose, the so-called minimum antipsoriatic dose (MAD), equivalent to that received by standard antipsoriatic daily treatment in the phototherapy cabinet containing TL-01 fluorescent tubes. The model uses the 24 h forecast of the column amount of ozone (to predict next day clear sky UV irradiance), and low- and mid-level cloudiness (to estimate a reduction of the clear-sky UV irradiation due to clouds). The predicted duration of sunbathing required to receive a dose of 1 MAD matches the observed value, i.e. the correlation coefficients is 0.68. If the model predicts the antipsoriatic exposure over 1 MAD threshold the observed dose will be also above this threshold in 91% of cases. Thus, the model could be used for planning the next-day outdoor exposure to clear psoriasis. Hourly resolved maps, starting from 6 am up to 1 pm (GMT), showing the duration of antipsoriatic exposure over Poland are made public. The model provides a tool for a psoriatic patient to find the sunbathing starting time and its duration, which has the same healing potential as a single indoor phototherapy session.

Introduction

Heliotherapy is rarely used to clear psoriasis, in spite of the previous reports showing its medical effectiveness [1], [2], [3], [4]. Nowadays there are only a few health centers where the phototherapy is offered to the psoriatic patients. The starting time of sunbathing and its duration were rather intuitively determined which led to the patient receiving a higher dose than that necessary to clear psoriasis. A series of our previous papers has led to building of the theoretical basis for antipsoriatic heliotherapy [5], [6]. It could be effectively used not only in the southern resorts but over the mid-latitudinal sites in late spring and summer. We have introduced minimum antipsoriatic dose (MAD), 1 MAD = 317.9 JPSOR/m2, corresponding to the mean daily dose received by antipsoriatic patients, during a single exposure session, routinely carried out in the phototherapy cabinet in the Medical University of Łódź [7]. Krzyścin et al. discussed that MAD belongs to category of the minimum dose responsible for a specific biological effect to appear, here psoriasis clearance, after exposure to this radiation unit [7].

We proposed the model to search for a potential location of the antipsoriatic center using the archived satellite data of total amount of ozone in the vertical column in the atmosphere, the so-called total ozone, and cloud characteristics. It was found that the antipsoriatic heliotherapy could be possible for significant part of the year under mean weather conditions in Poland. The heliotherapy schedule was to take a series of 20 intra-day 3 h exposures between 9 am GMT and 12 am GMT to mimic the standard antipsoriatic indoor phototherapy treatment available in the Medical University of Łódź. Duration of antipsoriatic heliotherapy could be controlled by a patient with use of a low-cost hand held instruments monitoring the UV index [7].

In this paper we build a forecasting model to provide an optimal starting time and duration of the next-day antipsoriatic sunbathing. Output of the model could be used by a patient for planning the next-day schedule of his outdoor activities.

Section snippets

Measurements of the antipsoriatic irradiation

The surface UV radiation data collected at Belsk consist of the spectral (290–325 nm) irradiance by the Brewer spectrophotometer (BS) Mark II (single monochromator) No. 64 and the erythemaly weighted irradiance measured by the broad band instrument Solar Light (SL) Co. UVB Biometer 501 with 1-min resolution. The quality control of the spectral measurements has been accomplished by almost yearly calibration with the world standard BS No. 17. The details of the Belsk’s Brewer calibration could be

Duration of the antipsoriatic sunbathing at Belsk

The duration of sunbathing to get the antipsoriatic dose of 317.9 JPSOR/m2 and twice as much, i.e. equivalent to the cabinet dose of 1 J/cm2 and 2 J/cm2, respectively, due to exposure to TL-01 tubes used in the Łodź’s phototherapy cabinet, is calculated by the time integration of the 1-min antipsoriatic irradiances. Antipsoriatic irradiances are derived after application of formula (1) to the routine observations of erythemal irradiances by the Belsk’s broadband instrument (SL UVB Biometer 501) in

Prognostic model of the exposure duration

A model of the next-day outdoor exposure to get 1 MAD or 2 MAD is constructed based on the 24 h forecast of total ozone and cloudiness by low- and mid-level clouds. The ozone forecast is taken from the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS) model of the ozone field with the spatial resolution 1° × 1°. The data is imported from the NCEP GFS data base available via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) data exchange facility. The ozone forecasts for each calendar day

Summary and conclusion

Nowadays, the forecasting of surface UV radiation is focusing on the erythemal and vitamin D3 effects of solar radiation. UV index (the maximum of the daily erythemal irradiance) for the next-day has been routinely calculated in many countries. The web addresses presenting the UV observations and forecasts for selected countries were shown, for example, in Table 7B.5 of the WMO Report on the state of the ozone layer [19].

Output of the presented model is different i.e. the duration of sunbathing

Acknowledgments

The work was founded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education under Grant No. UMO-2012/05/B/ST10/00495.

References (19)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

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