Harvard researchers examine cancer rates in flight attendants
American flight attendants have a higher prevalence of several forms of cancer, including breast, uterine, gastrointestinal, thyroid, and cervical cancers, when compared with the general public, according to new research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The analysis, one of the largest studies of cancer among cabin crew members to date, is the first to show that U.S. flight attendants also have an elevated rate of non-melanoma skin cancer. The findings are “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 cabin crew,” said Irina Mordukhovich, a research fellow at Harvard Chan School and the corresponding author of the paper. The study was published online in Environmental Health on Monday. Flight attendants are exposed to several known and probable cancer risks, including cosmic ionizing radiation, disrupted sleep cycles and circadian rhythms,...