Response to “Public health advice on sun exposure and sunbed user should not be disregarded” and its discussion of our paper “Ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality”

We write to clarify key misinterpretations of our study, which was an individual-level cohort analysis of approximately 395,000 UK Biobank participants rather than an ecological study, examining residential shortwave radiation exposure and solarium/sunlamp use in relation to mortality and cancer outcomes. We contend that the exposure measures used are unlikely to have introduced substantial bias, as any misclassification is likely to be predominantly Berkson-type, with construct validation supported by the observed 25(OH)D gradient, a negative control outcome, and consistency with findings from other low-sunlight settings.