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Flight attendants at increased risk for breast, skin cancers
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Flight attendants showed elevated incidence of several types of cancer compared with the general population, according to findings published in Environmental Health.
“Our findings of higher rates of several cancers among flight attendants is striking given the low rates of overweight and smoking in our study population, which highlights the question of what can be done to minimize the adverse exposures and cancers common among the cabin crew,” Irina Mordukhovich, PhD, MSPH, research fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a press release.
The researchers surveyed participants in the Harvard Flight Attendant Health Study from 2014 to 2015, using age-weighted standardized prevalence ratios (SPRs) to compare the prevalence of self-reported cancer diagnoses among flight attendants (n = 5,366) to that of a cohort from the general population (n = 2,729) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2013-2014). Mordukhovich and colleagues also evaluated associations between job tenure and cancer prevalence using logistic regression.
Flight attendants had higher incidences than members of the general population of similar socioeconomic status of every form of cancer included in the study — breast, uterine, gastrointestinal, thyroid and cervical cancers, as well as melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers.
Among female flight attendants, the elevated incidence appeared especially pronounced for breast cancer (SPR = 1.51; 95% CI, 1.02-2.24), melanoma (SPR = 2.27; 95% CI, 1.27-4.06) and nonmelanoma skin cancer (SPR = 4.09; 95% CI, 4.7-6.2). Women who had three or more children had an increased incidence of breast cancer, which appeared consistent with previous studies.
Male flight attendants demonstrated a modest increase in prevalence of melanoma (SPR = 1.47, 95% CI, 0.72-3.01) and nonmelanoma skin cancers (SPR = 1.11, 95% CI, 0.78-1.59).
Standardized prevalence ratios were increased among male and female flight attendants who had experienced significant job-related secondhand smoke.
Also, each 5-year increase in tenure as a flight attendant appeared associated with nonmelanoma skin cancer risk among women (OR = 1.07, 95% CI, 1.01-1.13). Researchers observed borderline associations between each 5-year increase and risk for melanoma (OR = 1.23; 95% CI, 0.94-1.61) and nonmelanoma (OR = 1.17; 95% CI, 0.99-1.38) skin cancers among male flight attendants.
The researchers wrote that the results indicated flight attendants in the U.S. should be monitored for radiation exposure and should have their schedules arranged to minimize exposure to radiation and disruption to circadian rhythms.
“The EU already evaluates radiation exposure among flight attendants, which our findings show may be an important step toward lowering cancer risk among this work population,” Eileen McNeely, PhD, co-director of Harvard’s SHINE program and a co-author of the study, said in the press release. – by Andy Polhamus
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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McNeely E, et al. Environ Health. 2018;doi:10.1186/s12940-018-0396-8.
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