Pilots, Flight Attendants Face Highest Radiation-Cancer Death Risk

A large study of more than 12.7 million U.S. deaths has found that pilots and flight attendants have the highest proportion of deaths from cancers associated with radiation exposure, strengthening a long-held concern about occupational hazards for aircrew. The research, based on death certificate data from 2020 to 2024, shows that the pattern of mortality was specific to radiation-linked cancers and not seen in other types of malignancies.

Researchers led by Dr. Vishal Patel of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital analyzed data from the National Vital Statistics System, which linked occupation to the cause of death for over 500 professions. After adjusting for factors such as age, sex, race, and education, they found that 6.9 percent of deaths among flight attendants and 6.7 percent of deaths among pilots involved cancers established as being related to ionizing radiation. These were the two highest proportions of any occupation studied, with nuclear technologists ranking 12th.

The study focused on cancers with known links to radiation, including breast, prostate, and central nervous system cancers, melanoma, and certain leukemias and lymphomas. Aircrew showed...