Miguel Bronchud, Medical Oncologist at GenesisCare Corachán in Barcelona, shared on LinkedIn:
“Traveling by plane (rather often) might be associated with higher rates of some cancers? Questions remain
Flight attendants and pilots have a higher risk of radiation-related cancer deaths than people in other professions.
A study of almost 13 million death records found that around 7% of all deaths among US cabin crew and pilots between 2020 to 2024 were caused by radiation-related cancers – the highest among a selection of 500 occupations included.
The enhanced risk could be related to the greater exposure that these super-frequent fliers get to high-energy particles from outer space that damage DNA.
It could also be linked to lifestyle factors like disruptions in circadian rhythms, sun exposure or alcohol consumption, health experts say.
Almost 7 per cent of all deaths among US flight attendants and pilots from 2020 to 2024 were due to radiation-related cancer, the highest rate among the 500 occupations studied.
The researchers suggested increased mortality could be caused by cosmic radiation, which aircrews are exposed to at higher levels.
But some skeptics question whether occupational radiation exposure among aircrew translates to increased cancer-related mortality remains unclear, as studies have been limited by small numbers of deaths and reliance on selective cohorts or single cancer sites?
Research by:
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
- Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
- National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Title: Cancer-Related Mortality Among US Pilots and Flight Attendants
Authors: Vishal R. Patel, Michael Liu, Anupam B. Jena
Other articles featuring Miguel Bronchud on OncoDaily.