Licentiatavhandling Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2014

Flying personnel are exposed to several factors in the work environment that can potentially increase their cancer incidence, mortality and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) incidence. The aim of this licentiate thesis is to study cancer incidence among Swedish cabin crew in relation to exposures in the work environment and to study mortality and AMI incidence in Swedish airline and military flying personnel. Methods: Cancer incidence among cabin crew at the Swedish Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) was determined from the Swedish National Cancer Register. Their cancer incidence was compared with that of the general Swedish population by comparing observed and expected number of cases. To study exposure of total flight hours and exposure to “high altitude, long distance” flights a nested case-control study was performed, including cancer cases diagnosed after 1979 and four controls per case. A cohort of flying personnel employed at the Swedish part of SAS or the Swedish Air Force was followed regarding mortality and AMI incidence using national registers of hospital discharges and deaths. The observed mortality and AMI incidence was compared with the expected rate in the Swedish population.