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Estimated radiation exposure of German commercial airline cabin crew in the years 1960–2003 modeled using dose registry data for 2004–2015

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 28, pages 275–280 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Exposure to ionizing radiation of cosmic origin is an occupational risk factor in commercial aircrew. In a historic cohort of 26,774 German aircrew, radiation exposure was previously estimated only for cockpit crew using a job-exposure matrix (JEM). Here, a new method for retrospectively estimating cabin crew dose is developed. The German Federal Radiation Registry (SSR) documents individual monthly effective doses for all aircrew. SSR-provided doses on 12,941 aircrew from 2004 to 2015 were used to model cabin crew dose as a function of age, sex, job category, solar activity, and male pilots' dose; the mean annual effective dose was 2.25 mSv (range 0.01–6.39 mSv). In addition to an inverse association with solar activity, exposure followed age- and sex-dependent patterns related to individual career development and life phases. JEM-derived annual cockpit crew doses agreed with SSR-provided doses for 2004 (correlation 0.90, 0.40 mSv root mean squared error), while the estimated average annual effective dose for cabin crew had a prediction error of 0.16 mSv, equaling 7.2% of average annual dose. Past average annual cabin crew dose can be modeled by exploiting systematic external influences as well as individual behavioral determinants of radiation exposure, thereby enabling future dose–response analyses of the full aircrew cohort including measurement error information.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the employers' mandatory liability insurance Berufsgenossenschaft Verkehrswirtschaft Post-Logistik Telekommunikation (BG Verkehr). We thank Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Air Berlin for providing support as well as data access. We thank the Federal Office for Radiation Protection and specifically the staff of the German Federal Radiation Registry for their efforts and support in providing dose registry data for the cohort. The third follow-up was approved by the ethics committee of the Bremen Medical Association. The requirement to seek informed consent from individual cohort members was waived.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), University Medical Center Mainz, Obere Zahlbacher Str. 69, Mainz, 55131, Germany

    Daniel Wollschläger & Maria Blettner

  2. Registre Morphologique des Tumeurs, Laboratoire National de Santé E.P., Dudelange, L-3555, Luxembourg

    Gaël Paul Hammer

  3. Department of Epidemiology & International Public Health, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, 33501, Germany

    Thomas Schafft

  4. Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology, Achterstr. 30, Bremen, 28359, Germany

    Steffen Dreger & Hajo Zeeb

  5. Health Sciences Bremen, University of Bremen, Bibliotheksstr. 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany

    Hajo Zeeb

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  1. Daniel Wollschläger
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  2. Gaël Paul Hammer
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  6. Hajo Zeeb
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Correspondence to Daniel Wollschläger.

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Wollschläger, D., Hammer, G., Schafft, T. et al. Estimated radiation exposure of German commercial airline cabin crew in the years 1960–2003 modeled using dose registry data for 2004–2015. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 28, 275–280 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2017.21

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