Cancer risk of pilots and cabin crew - epidemiologic studies in Europe

Since 1990 international guidelines have recommended to classify persons who are exposed to natural radiation at their workplace as occupationally exposed (ICRP 60). So far the cancer risk of pilots and cabin crew could only be estimated based on model calculations. Direct observations were based on a small number of epidemiological studies. From the viewpoint of radiation protection the large neutron component of cosmic radiation is of importance. Thus, there are scientific and health policy reasons to further investigate the cancer risk of this specific group. The ongoing retrospective cohort studies in 9 European Countries will be analysed in 2001. In Germany all pilots and crew employed 1960 or later (up to 1998) by Lufthansa and LTU were included in the cohort. Individual radiation exposure is estimated based on job histories and flight information combined in a job-exposure matrix. SMR analyses were performed for both the European and the German data. So far, results from some incidence studies from Nordic countries participating in the European study are available. Consistently raised risks have been found for melanoma, some other sites showed increased rates in individual studies. The German study includes 6240 pilots and 20894 cabin crew with an average follow-up of approx. 18 years. We report on first descriptive results and on studies to validate the exposure assessment. Only large international studies will allow to investigate in detail if cosmic radiation influences the cancer risk of flight personnel. The results expected from the ongoing studies are important for the evaluation not only of health risks from radiation, but also of other occupational risks in pilots and cabin attendants. (orig.)