Seasonal Variation in Measured Solar Ultraviolet Radiation Exposure of Adults in Subtropical Australia

Generating accurate population-specific public health messages regarding sun protection requires knowledge about seasonal variation in sun exposure in different environments. To address this issue for a subtropical area of Australia, we used polysulphone badges to measure UVR for the township of Nambour (26° latitude) and personal UVR exposure among Nambour residents who were taking part in a skin cancer prevention trial. Badges were worn by participants for two winter and two summer days. The ambient UVR was approximately three times as high in summer as in winter. However, participants received more than twice the proportion of available UVR in winter as in summer (6.5%vs 2.7%, P < 0.05), resulting in an average ratio of summer to winter personal UVR exposure of 1.35. The average absolute difference in daily dose between summer and winter was only one-seventh of a minimal erythemal dose. Extrapolating from our data, we estimate that ca. 42% of the total exposure received in the 6 months of winter (June–August) and summer (December–February) is received during the three winter months. Our data show that in Queensland a substantial proportion of people’s annual UVR dose is obtained in winter, underscoring the need for dissemination of sun protection messages throughout the year in subtropical and tropical climates.

Excess deaths during the 2004 heatwave in Brisbane, Australia

The paper examines whether there was an excess of deaths and the relative role of temperature and ozone in a heatwave during 7–26 February 2004 in Brisbane, Australia, a subtropical city accustomed to warm weather. The data on daily counts of deaths from cardiovascular disease and non-external causes, meteorological conditions, and air pollution in Brisbane from 1 January 2001 to 31 October 2004 were supplied by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, and Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, respectively. The relationship between temperature and mortality was analysed using a Poisson time series regression model with smoothing splines to control for nonlinear effects of confounding factors. The highest temperature recorded in the 2004 heatwave was 42°C compared with the highest recorded temperature of 34°C during the same periods of 2001–2003. There was a significant relationship between exposure to heat and excess deaths in the 2004 heatwave estimated increase in non-external deaths: 75 [(95% confidence interval, CI: 11–138; cardiovascular deaths: 41 (95% CI: −2 to 84)]. There was no apparent evidence of substantial short-term mortality displacement. The excess deaths were mainly attributed to temperature but exposure to ozone also contributed to these deaths.

Driver knowledge about road fatalities in Australia

The term “road toll” quantifies road deaths and attracts media attention, particularly during Easter/Christmas holiday periods. Since the media focuses considerable attention on this issue, we might expect that this would translate into awareness among drivers the number of people killed, which in turn, would hopefully encourage safer driving. Road safety professionals are cognisant of road toll trends but there is little information available to indicate awareness of road fatalities among the general population. This research investigated awareness of fatalities on Queensland and Australian roads among Queensland drivers.