Pilots and flight attendants have high cancer-death risk, study finds

Key Points:

• A new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine finds that flight attendants and pilots have the highest risk of dying from radiation-related cancers compared to over 500 occupations, even surpassing those who work directly with radioactive materials.
• The study analyzed national data from over 12 million death certificates and found flight attendants had about 50% higher odds and pilots about 36% higher odds of dying from cancers linked to radiation exposure, such as leukemia, lymphoma, and breast and skin cancers.
• The increased cancer risk is attributed to cosmic radiation exposure at high altitudes, with no higher death rates observed for cancers unrelated to radiation, suggesting occupational exposure rather than lifestyle factors is the cause.
• Limitations include unknown individual radiation doses and potential misclassification of occupations, as well as unaccounted factors like circadian disruption from irregular schedules, which may also increase cancer risk.
• The Federal Aviation Administration currently does not set radiation dose limits or require exposure monitoring for aircrews, prompting calls from experts and flight attendant unions for better education, monitoring, and preventive health measures.