Harvard scientists discover occupations at biggest risk of dying from cancer

Pilots and flight attendants top a new list of the US jobs most likely to end in a radiation-related cancer death, according to a major new study out of Harvard Medical School.

Researchers looked at nearly 13 million death certificates recorded between 2020 and 2024, covering 503 different occupations, and found that airline crews had a higher share of radiation-inked cancer deaths than any other profession in the country, including workers who handle nuclear material directly.

The study, published august 17th in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that around 6.9 percent of flight attendant deaths and 6.7 percent of pilot deaths in the dataset were caused by cancers tied to radiation exposure.

That put both roles ahead of nuclear technologists, who deal with non-cosmetic radiation sources as part of their job but ranked 12th on the list.

Pilots and flight attendants top a new list of the US jobs most likely to end in a radiation-related cancer death, according to a major new study out of Harvard Medical School. (Getty Stock Image)

Why do pilots and flight attendants get more cancer?

The answer comes down to altitude. Aircrew spend huge amounts of time flying at cruising heights, where exposure to cosmic radiation is far higher than at ground level.

It's long been established that flight crews receive the largest average annual dose of ionizing radiation of any workforce in the US, but until now it wasn't clear whether that translated into a higher chance of actually dying from cancer.

Led by Dr. Vishal Patel, a clinical fellow in surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital, the research team pulled data from the National Vital Statistics System rather than smaller, occupation-specific studies used in the past.

The sample included around 14,000 pilots and 7,000 flight attendants, and the team adjusted for factors including age, sex, race, ethnicity, education and marital status to isolate the effect of the job itself.

The results showed pilots and flight attendants had significantly higher death rates from breast cancer, central nervous system cancers, prostate cancer and melanoma, with pilots also showing an elevated rate of leukemia deaths.

Lung cancer was deliberately excluded from the analysis to avoid the results being skewed by smoking rates.

Aircraft mechanics and assembly workers, by contrast, showed no increased risk compared to the wider population, and rates of non-radiation cancers among aircrew were in line with the general public.

Researchers looked at nearly 13 million death certificates recorded between 2020 and 2024 and found that airline crew had a higher share of radiation-linked cancer deaths than any other profession. (Getty Stock Image)

How much radiation do flight crews get each year?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, aircrew are estimated to absorb between 3 and 6 millisieverts of cosmic radiation annually, depending on the routes they fly.

That's roughly ten times higher than the 0.4 millisieverts absorbed by an average passenger taking ten cross-country round trips a year.

Despite this, aircrew occupy an unusual position under US law.

The Federal Aviation Administration officially classifies pilots and flight attendants as occupationally exposed to ionizing radiation, yet unlike other radiation-exposed workers, and unlike aircrew in several other countries, they are not subject to any federal dose limits or mandatory monitoring.

Senior author Dr. Anupam Jena, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, said the findings support introducing radiation protections for US aircrew that reflect the scale of the exposure they face on the job.