People who spend their careers in the skies may face a hidden health risk. A new study has found that flight attendants and pilots have the highest rates of radiation-related cancer deaths among more than 500 occupations, highlighting the potential impact of long-term exposure to cosmic radiation during flights.
However, the researchers did not find that aircrew had unusually high levels of cancer overall. Their results for cancers not considered radiation-related were close to the middle of the occupations studied. The main concern is cosmic radiation. Earth’s atmosphere provides protection from high-energy particles coming from space, but that protection becomes weaker at commercial flight altitudes. The amount of exposure can also vary depending on flight time, flight path and latitude. The study does not prove that cosmic radiation caused the cancers recorded among pilots and flight attendants. Other factors may also contribute to cancer risk. Researchers and outside experts have pointed to possible influences including ultraviolet radiation entering aircraft windows and disruption to sleep and body clocks caused by night and shift work. The study highlights a potential occupational health issue for people who spend thousands of hours in the air during their careers. The researchers say better monitoring and health checks could help assess and manage the risks faced by aircrew.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School analysed death certificate data for about 12.7 million people who died in the US between 2020 and 2024. The study covered 503 occupations and compared deaths linked to cancers that can be associated with radiation exposure. Flight attendants had about a 50 per cent higher risk of radiation-related cancer mortality compared with the other occupational groups in the analysis. For pilots, the figure was about 36 per cent higher.
