Skip to main content
Occupational and Environmental Medicine logoLink to Occupational and Environmental Medicine
. 2002 Jul;59(7):428–433. doi: 10.1136/oem.59.7.428

Cosmic rays: are air crew at risk?

M Lim, M Bagshaw
PMCID: PMC1740325  PMID: 12107289

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (123.5 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bagshaw M., Irvine D., Davies D. M. Exposure to cosmic radiation of British Airways flying crew on ultralonghaul routes. Occup Environ Med. 1996 Jul;53(7):495–498. doi: 10.1136/oem.53.7.495. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bagshaw M. Pregnancy and in-flight cosmic radiation. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1999 May;70(5):533–533. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Ballard T., Lagorio S., De Angelis G., Verdecchia A. Cancer incidence and mortality among flight personnel: a meta-analysis. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2000 Mar;71(3):216–224. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Band P. R., Le N. D., Fang R., Deschamps M., Coldman A. J., Gallagher R. P., Moody J. Cohort study of Air Canada pilots: mortality, cancer incidence, and leukemia risk. Am J Epidemiol. 1996 Jan 15;143(2):137–143. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a008722. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bartlett D. T. Radiation protection concepts and quantities for the occupational exposure to cosmic radiation. Radiat Prot Dosimetry. 1999;86(4):263–268. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.rpd.a032955. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Blakely E. A. Biological effects of cosmic radiation: deterministic and stochastic. Health Phys. 2000 Nov;79(5):495–506. doi: 10.1097/00004032-200011000-00006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Blettner M., Grosche B., Zeeb H. Occupational cancer risk in pilots and flight attendants: current epidemiological knowledge. Radiat Environ Biophys. 1998 Jul;37(2):75–80. doi: 10.1007/s004110050097. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Boice J. D., Jr, Blettner M., Auvinen A. Epidemiologic studies of pilots and aircrew. Health Phys. 2000 Nov;79(5):576–584. doi: 10.1097/00004032-200011000-00016. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Daniell W. E., Vaughan T. L., Millies B. A. Pregnancy outcomes among female flight attendants. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1990 Sep;61(9):840–844. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Doll R. The limits of epidemiology. J Radiol Prot. 1999 Mar;19(1):1–2. doi: 10.1088/0952-4746/19/1/001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Friedberg W., Copeland K., Duke F. E., O'Brien K., 3rd, Darden E. B., Jr Radiation exposure during air travel: guidance provided by the Federal Aviation Administration for air carrier crews. Health Phys. 2000 Nov;79(5):591–595. doi: 10.1097/00004032-200011000-00018. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Geeze D. S. Pregnancy and in-flight cosmic radiation. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1998 Nov;69(11):1061–1064. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Goldman M. Cancer risk of low-level exposure. Science. 1996 Mar 29;271(5257):1821–1822. doi: 10.1126/science.271.5257.1821. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Goodhead D. T. Initial events in the cellular effects of ionizing radiations: clustered damage in DNA. Int J Radiat Biol. 1994 Jan;65(1):7–17. doi: 10.1080/09553009414550021. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Grayson J. K., Lyons T. J. Cancer incidence in United States Air Force aircrew, 1975-89. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1996 Feb;67(2):101–104. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Gundestrup M., Storm H. H. Radiation-induced acute myeloid leukaemia and other cancers in commercial jet cockpit crew: a population-based cohort study. Lancet. 1999 Dec 11;354(9195):2029–2031. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(99)05093-X. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Heimers A. Chromosome aberration analysis in Concorde pilots. Mutat Res. 2000 May 8;467(2):169–176. doi: 10.1016/s1383-5718(00)00032-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Irvine D., Davies D. M. British Airways flightdeck mortality study, 1950-1992. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1999 Jun;70(6):548–555. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Irvine D., Davies D. M. British Airways flightdeck mortality study, 1950-1992. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1999 Jun;70(6):548–555. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Lynge E. Risk of breast cancer is also increased among Danish female airline cabin attendants. BMJ. 1996 Jan 27;312(7025):253–253. doi: 10.1136/bmj.312.7025.253. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Morgan W. F., Day J. P., Kaplan M. I., McGhee E. M., Limoli C. L. Genomic instability induced by ionizing radiation. Radiat Res. 1996 Sep;146(3):247–258. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Nicholas J. S., Copeland K. A., Duke F. E., Friedberg W., O'Brien K., 3rd Galactic cosmic radiation exposure of pregnant flight crewmembers. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2000 Jun;71(6):647–648. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. O'Brien K., McLaughlin J. E. The radiation dose to man from galactic cosmic rays. Health Phys. 1972 Mar;22(3):225–232. doi: 10.1097/00004032-197203000-00002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Oksanen P. J. Estimated individual annual cosmic radiation doses for flight crews. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1998 Jul;69(7):621–625. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Oksanen P. J. Estimated individual annual cosmic radiation doses for flight crews. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1998 Jul;69(7):621–625. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Pukkala E., Auvinen A., Wahlberg G. Incidence of cancer among Finnish airline cabin attendants, 1967-92. BMJ. 1995 Sep 9;311(7006):649–652. doi: 10.1136/bmj.311.7006.649. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Rafnsson V., Hrafnkelsson J., Tulinius H. Incidence of cancer among commercial airline pilots. Occup Environ Med. 2000 Mar;57(3):175–179. doi: 10.1136/oem.57.3.175. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Romano E., Ferrucci L., Nicolai F., Derme V., De Stefano G. F. Increase of chromosomal aberrations induced by ionising radiation in peripheral blood lymphocytes of civil aviation pilots and crew members. Mutat Res. 1997 Jun 9;377(1):89–93. doi: 10.1016/s0027-5107(97)00064-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Stewart T., Stewart N. Breast cancer in female flight attendants. Lancet. 1995 Nov 25;346(8987):1379–1379. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(95)92400-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Struewing J. P., Hartge P., Wacholder S., Baker S. M., Berlin M., McAdams M., Timmerman M. M., Brody L. C., Tucker M. A. The risk of cancer associated with specific mutations of BRCA1 and BRCA2 among Ashkenazi Jews. N Engl J Med. 1997 May 15;336(20):1401–1408. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199705153362001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Trott K. R., Rosemann M. Molecular mechanisms of radiation carcinogenesis and the linear, non-threshold dose response model of radiation risk estimation. Radiat Environ Biophys. 2000 Jun;39(2):79–87. doi: 10.1007/s004110000047. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Wright E. G. Radiation-induced genomic instability in haemopoietic cells. Int J Radiat Biol. 1998 Dec;74(6):681–687. doi: 10.1080/095530098140943. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Ziegler J. F., Lanford W. A. Effect of cosmic rays on computer memories. Science. 1979 Nov 16;206(4420):776–788. doi: 10.1126/science.206.4420.776. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Occupational and Environmental Medicine are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES