研究发现 机组人员患癌风险要高于其他人群

Flight attendants may have a higher risk of a number of cancers, a new study finds.

一项新研究发现，空乘人员患癌症的风险可能比普通人要高。

Researchers found that women and men on U.S. cabin crews have higher rates of many types of cancer, compared with the general population.

研究人员发现，与普通人群相比，许多种癌症在美国女性和男性机组人员身上的发病率都要更高。

This includes cancers of the breast, cervix, skin, thyroid and uterus, as well as gastrointestinal system cancers, which include colon, stomach, esophageal, liver and pancreatic cancers.

这其中包括了乳腺癌、宫颈癌、皮肤癌、甲状腺癌、子宫癌以及消化系统癌症。消化系统癌症则包括结肠癌、胃癌、食道癌、肝癌和胰腺癌。

One possible explanation for these increased rates is that flight attendants are exposed to a lot of known and potential carcinogens, or cancer-causing agents, within their work environment, said lead study author Irina Mordukhovich, a research associate at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

该研究的主要作者、哈佛大学陈曾熙公共卫生学院助理研究员埃琳娜·莫尔杜霍维奇称，对这种比率上升的一个可能的解释是，空乘人员在工作环境中接触了大量已知的潜在致癌物或致癌物质。

One of those carcinogens is cosmic ionizing radiation, which is elevated at higher altitudes, Mordukhovich told Live Science. This type of radiation is particularly damaging to DNA and is a known cause of breast cancer and nonmelanoma skin cancer.

莫尔杜霍维奇向《Live Science》透露，其中一种致癌物是宇宙电离辐射，海拔越高，辐射水平越高。这种辐射对DNA的损伤尤其大，是乳腺癌和非黑色素瘤皮肤癌的已知致病原因。

Air cabin crews receive the highest yearly dose of ionizing radiation on the job of all U.S. workers, she added.

此外，她还表示，机组人员每年接受的电离辐射量是美国所有工作人员中最高的。

In the new study, the researchers looked at data from more than 5,300 flight attendants from different airlines who completed an online survey as part of the Harvard Flight Attendant Health Study.

在这项新研究中，研究人员查看了来自各家航空公司的5300余名空乘人员的数据。这些人在此前完成了哈佛空乘人员健康研究的一项在线调查。

The analysis looked at the cancer rates in these flight attendants compared to a group of about 2,700 people who had a similar income and educational status but were not flight attendants.

这项调查研究了这些空乘人员的癌症发病率，并与大约2700名收入和受教育程度与空乘类似的非空乘人员进行了对比。

The researchers found that in female flight attendants, the rates of breast cancer were about 50 percent higher than in women from the general population.

研究人员发现，女性空乘人员的乳腺癌发病率比普通人群女性高出50%左右。

In addition, melanoma rates were more than two times higher and nonmelanoma skin cancer rates were about four times higher in female flight attendants compared with women from the general population.

另外，与普通人群女性相比，女性空乘的黑色素瘤发病率要高出两倍以上，非黑色素瘤皮肤癌的发病率则高出四倍左右。

Cancer rates in male flight attendants were nearly 50 percent higher for melanoma and about 10 percent higher for nonmelanoma skin cancers compared with men from the general population group.

与普通人群男性相比，男性空乘的黑色素瘤发病率要高出近50%，而非黑色素瘤皮肤癌的发病率则高出约10%。

The potential cancer risks for flight attendants are not limited to cosmic ionizing radiation. Cabin crew members are also regularly exposed to more UV radiation than the general population, which can make these workers more vulnerable to skin cancers, Mordukhovich said.

给空乘人员带来潜在致癌风险的并不仅有宇宙电离辐射。莫尔杜霍维奇表示，空乘人员受到的紫外辐射通常也比普通人群高，这可能使他们更容易患皮肤癌。