Am J Epidemiol 2003; 158:35-46.
Copyright © 2003 by Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS |
Mortality from Cancer and Other Causes among Airline Cabin Attendants in Europe: A Collaborative Cohort Study in Eight Countries
1 Division of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, School of Public Health, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany.
2 Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health, Institute of Hygiene, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
3 Laboratorio di Igiene Ambientale, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
4 Clinic of Aviation Medicine, University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
5 Division of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark.
6 Cancer Registry of Norway, Oslo, Norway.
7 Institute for Energy Technology, Kjeller, Norway.
8 Department of Epidemiology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
9 Institute for Health, Safety and Working Conditions, Athens, Greece.
10 Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece.
11 Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
12 STUK Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Helsinki, Finland.
13 Finnish Cancer Registry, Helsinki, Finland.
14 Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
15 Department of Oncology, Landspitalinn (National University Hospital), Reykjavik, Iceland.
There is concern about the health effects of exposure to cosmic radiation during air travel. To study the potential health effects of this and occupational exposures, the authors investigated mortality patterns among more than 44,000 airline cabin crew members in Europe. A cohort study was performed in eight European countries, yielding approximately 655,000 person-years of follow-up. Observed numbers of deaths were compared with expected numbers based on national mortality rates. Among female cabin crew, overall mortality (standardized mortality ratio (SMR) = 0.80, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.73, 0.88) and all-cancer mortality (SMR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.66, 0.95) were slightly reduced, while breast cancer mortality was slightly but nonsignificantly increased (SMR = 1.11, 95% CI: 0.82, 1.48). In contrast, overall mortality (SMR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.18) and mortality from skin cancer (for malignant melanoma, SMR = 1.93, 95% CI: 0.70, 4.44) among male cabin crew were somewhat increased. The authors noted excess mortality from aircraft accidents and from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in males. Among airline cabin crew in Europe, there was no increase in mortality that could be attributed to cosmic radiation or other occupational exposures to any substantial extent. The risk of skin cancer among male crew members requires further attention.
aviation; cohort studies; cosmic radiation; mortality; neoplasms; occupational exposure
Abbreviations: Abbreviations: AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; CI, confidence interval; ESCAPE, European Study of Cancer Risk among Airline Pilots and Cabin Crew; SMR, standardized mortality ratio.
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