Aircrews Face Increased Risk of Developing Skin Cancer

Sex, skin color, family history, immunosuppression, and age affect the risk of skin cancer; reducing exposure to radiation lowers the risk of developing skin cancer in the future. In other instances, increased altitude, snow, or cloud reflection during flight may increase overall UV radiation intensity. With higher altitudes and more polar latitudes, this protection decreases, and exposure risks increase.1 A meta-analysis conducted by Sanlorenzo et al2 reported that based on higher levels of cosmic and UV radiation exposure, pilots and airline crew are at approximately 2 times the incidence of melanoma as the general population.