Flight attendants get cancer more than the general population, ‘striking’ new study shows
Higher prevalence of every type of cancer examined found in flight crew, despite their low rates of overweight and smoking, Harvard research finds. Also in health news, the ‘holy grail’ of an insulin pill for diabetics is a little closer
Flight crews have higher than average rates of some cancers, according to a study of more than 5,000 US-based flight attendants.
“We report a higher lifetime prevalence of breast, melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers among flight crews relative to the general population,” said Irina Mordukhovich, a researcher at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and co-author of a study published in the journal Environmental Health.
“This is striking given the low rates of overweight and smoking in this occupational group,” she said.
Just over 15 per cent of the 5,366 flight attendants who took part in the study reported ever having been diagnosed with cancer. The study found a higher prevalence of cancer in flight crew for every type of cancer examined, even taking age into account.
About 3.4 per cent of the women who flew for a living had breast cancer, compared to 2.3 per cent in the general population. The flight-crew rate was 0.15 per cent compared to 0.13 per cent for uterine cancer; 1.0 compared to 0.7 per cent for cervical cancer; 0.47 compared to 0.27 per cent for stomach or colon cancer; and 0.67 compared to 0.56 per cent for thyroid cancer.
