Hi Diego. Interesting problem. Sun exposure for different skin types elicits different responses. Genetics, environments, lifestyles, professions are variables that are difficult to generalize and justify groupings. It will look arbitrary. 

Can you work backwards by looking for a genetic connection between melanoma (or tyrosinase expression, etc) and families, professions, regions, etc.

Also, skin autofluorescence can be a marker for diabetes, but it also can be a marker for UV damage.

Hello Diego,

may you can give me some more information?

Do you work prospective or retrospective?

Can you contact your probants? Do you want to use questionnaires or measure the exposure? How precise Data do you need for your dosimetry?

Best wishes,

Peter

Hi Peter!

Thank you for answering.

We have the opportunity to contact again a sample of healthy individuals that was collected two years ago. We can also evaluate this group prospectively. Since we would like to include at least 500 individuals, a questionnaire would be good. Do you have one to recommend?

Best,

HI Diego,

to my knowledge, the only validated Questionnaire is the SEM-Q developed by Humayun et al. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22682277). Another questionnaire was developed by the NCI (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19190171). Both are well designed and tested and you'll have to see which one is more approriate for your task.

BW,

Peter

My student had developed SEM-Q, Happy to link you with Humayun Q if you are interested.

Romaina Iqbal