Mortality from cancer and other causes in commercial airline crews: a joint analysis of cohorts from 10 countries

Details

• Personal Author:
  Auvinen A ; Blettner M ; De Stavola BL ; dos Santos Silva I ; Grajewski, Barbara A. ; Gundestrup M ; Haldorsen T ; Hammar N ; Hammer GP ; Lagorio S ; Linnersjo A ; Pinkerton L ; Pukkala E ; Rafnsson V ; Storm HH ; Strand T-E ; Tzonou A ; Zeeb H
• Description:
  Background: Commercial airline crew is one of the occupational groups with the highest exposures to ionising radiation. Crew members are also exposed to other physical risk factors and subject to potential disruption of circadian rhythms. Methods: This study analyses mortality in a pooled cohort of 93,771 crew members from 10 countries. The cohort was followed for a mean of 21.7 years (2.0 million person-years), during which 5508 deaths occurred. Results: The overall mortality was strongly reduced in male cockpit (SMR 0.56) and female cabin crews (SMR 0.73). The mortality from radiation-related cancers was also reduced in male cockpit crew (SMR 0.73), but not in female or male cabin crews (SMR 1.01 and 1.00, respectively). The mortality from female breast cancer (SMR 1.06), leukaemia and brain cancer was similar to that of the general population. The mortality from malignant melanoma was elevated, and significantly so in male cockpit crew (SMR 1.57). The mortality from cardiovascular diseases was strongly reduced (SMR 0.46). On the other hand, the mortality from aircraft accidents was exceedingly high (SMR 33.9), as was that from AIDS in male cabin crew (SMR 14.0). Conclusions: This large study with highly complete follow-up shows a reduced overall mortality in male cockpit and female cabin crews, an increased mortality of aircraft accidents and an increased mortality in malignant skin melanoma in cockpit crew. Further analysis after longer follow-up is recommended. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pressure Explosions Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-rates Acquired-immune-deficiency-syndrome AIDS Aircrews Blood-disorders Brain-tumors Breast-cancer Cancer Cancer-rates Cardiovascular-disease Circadian-rhythms Employee-exposure Exposure-assessment Flight-personnel Humans Ionizing-radiation Leukemogenesis Malignant-neoplasms Men Mortality-data Mortality-rates Pilots Radiation Radiation-exposure Skin-cancer Sleep-disorders Women

  More +
• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  313-322
• Volume:
  71
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20043591
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2014 May; 71(5):313-322
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr Gaël Paul Hammer, Registre Morphologique des Tumeurs, Laboratoire National de Santé E.P., L-3555 Dudelange, Luxembourg
• Email:
  gael.hammer@lns.etat.lu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• NORA Priority Area:
  Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ff68bbf14bb06d13525cf087227b742e8690d75b47d0d380836beddc319633cb9d5b8429e819403f76eb572723dcfd4275af34a31bdc49b23bb3d9c8f305be20
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195452/cdc_195452_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 200.57 KB ]