ArticleCancers of the head & neck2018
Thyroid cancer risk in airline cockpit and cabin crew: a meta-analysis.
Article in Cancers of the head & neck, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Thyroid cancer in Chinese military flight personnel: Characteristics and management advances.World journal of clinical oncology · 2026Review
- Cell cycle and HIF-1 related gene expression alteration in thyroid cell lines under microgravity.Oncology research · 2025Article
- Prediction of TNFRSF9 expression and molecular pathological features in thyroid cancer using machine learning to construct Pathomics models.Endocrine · 2024Article
- The OCCHLTH Mnemonic-Construction and Content of a Tool for Increasing Awareness of Occupational Illness and Injury.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2024Review
- Monitoring of urinary iodine concentration in naval pilots: should iodine be supplemented or limited at coastal stations?Military Medical Research · 2024Article
- Radiation-Related Thyroid Cancer.Endocrine reviews · 2024Review
- Health in the Skies: A Narrative Review of the Issues Faced by Commercial Airline Pilots.Cureus · 2023Review
- Cancer risks from cosmic radiation exposure in flight: A review.Frontiers in public health · 2022Review
- Thyroid Cancer and Circadian Clock Disruption.Cancers · 2020Review
- Interconnection between circadian clocks and thyroid function.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAirline crew are exposed to ionizing radiation as part of their occupation and have a documented increased risk of melanoma and cataracts. However, whether their occupation predisposes them to an increased risk of thyroid cancer is not established. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the risk of thyroid cancer in airline cockpit and cabin crew compared with the general population.
methodsThe MEDLINE database accessed via PubMed and Cochrane Database were searched. We included cohort studies reporting the standardized incidence ratio (SIR) or standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of thyroid cancers in any flight-based occupation.
resultsOf the 1777 citations retrieved in PubMed, eight studies with a total of 243,088 aircrew members and over 3,334,114 person-years of follow-up were included in this meta-analysis. No relevant studies were identified on Cochrane Database. The overall summary SIR of participants in any flight-based occupation was 1.11 (95% CI, 0.79-1.57;
conclusionAirline crew were not found to have a significantly elevated risk of thyroid cancer incidence or mortality relative to the general population. Future research should capitalize on the growing occupational cohort dataset and employ innovative methods to quantify lifetime radiation exposure to further assess thyroid cancer risk in airline crew.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.