Study finds pilots and cabin crew face highest radiation-cancer death risk

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine on August 17, 2026, found that airline pilots and flight attendants had the highest and second-highest shares of deaths from radiation-related cancers among 503 US occupations examined. That put them ahead of even workers who handle radioactive materials on the job.

The research was led by Dr. Vishal Patel of Harvard Medical School. It drew on the National Vital Statistics System and reviewed roughly 13 million death records from 2020 to 2024, including close to 14,000 pilots and 7,000 flight attendants. Investigators focused on cancers previously tied to radiation exposure: leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and cancers of the skin, breast, thyroid, prostate and central nervous system. Lung cancer was excluded from the analysis to limit the influence of smoking.

According to the study, flight attendants had about 50% higher odds of dying from a radiation-linked cancer compared with the general working population. Pilots showed roughly 36% higher odds. In absolute terms, such cancers accounted for about 6.9% of flight attendant deaths and 6.7% of pilot deaths, versus 5% among workers generally.

Neither group showed higher death rates from cancers not associated with radiation, the researchers noted. They said this suggests the elevated risk stems from workplace exposure rather than lifestyle or income-related factors. Aircrew are routinely exposed to cosmic radiation at cruising altitude, a factor long flagged by occupational health researchers. Still, the study's authors said the scale of the disparity across such a broad set of occupations was notable.