TY - JOUR
T1 - Malignancy in U.S. Air Force fighter pilots and other officers, 1986–2017
T2 - A retrospective cohort study
AU - Robbins, Anthony S.
AU - Pathak, Sonal R.
AU - Webber, Bryant J.
AU - Erich, Roger A.
AU - Escobar, James D.
AU - Simon, Alisa A.
AU - Stahlman, Shauna L.
AU - Gambino-Shirley, Kelly J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
PY - 2020/9
Y1 - 2020/9
N2 - Objective This study sought to determine the incidence rates of cancer, overall and by site, among active component U.S. Air Force fighter pilots, and to compare the rates with those in other active component Air Force officers. Methods Using a matched retrospective cohort design, U.S. Air Force fighter pilots were compared with other commissioned officers who entered active component service between 1 January 1986 and 31 December 2006. The cohort was followed for cancer diagnoses in TRICARE and the Veterans Health Administration from 1 October 1995 through 31 December 2017. Fighter pilots and non-fighter pilot officers were compared after matching on sex, age at first observation (15 age groups), and age at last observation (15 age groups). Sex-stratified overall and site-specific cancer rates were compared with matched Poisson regression to determine incidence rate ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Results During 1,412,590 person-years of follow-up, among the study population of 88,432 service members (4,949 fighter pilots and 83,483 matched officers), 977 incident cancer cases were diagnosed (86 in fighter pilots and 891 in matched officers). Male fighter pilots and matched officers had similar rates of all malignant cancers (RR = 1.04; 95% CI: 0.83–1.31) and of each cancer site. Female fighter pilots and matched officers also had similar rates of all malignant cancers (RR = 0.99; 95% CI: 0.25–4.04). Discussion In the active component U.S. Air Force, fighter pilots and their officer peers had similar overall and site-specific cancer rates.
AB - Objective This study sought to determine the incidence rates of cancer, overall and by site, among active component U.S. Air Force fighter pilots, and to compare the rates with those in other active component Air Force officers. Methods Using a matched retrospective cohort design, U.S. Air Force fighter pilots were compared with other commissioned officers who entered active component service between 1 January 1986 and 31 December 2006. The cohort was followed for cancer diagnoses in TRICARE and the Veterans Health Administration from 1 October 1995 through 31 December 2017. Fighter pilots and non-fighter pilot officers were compared after matching on sex, age at first observation (15 age groups), and age at last observation (15 age groups). Sex-stratified overall and site-specific cancer rates were compared with matched Poisson regression to determine incidence rate ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Results During 1,412,590 person-years of follow-up, among the study population of 88,432 service members (4,949 fighter pilots and 83,483 matched officers), 977 incident cancer cases were diagnosed (86 in fighter pilots and 891 in matched officers). Male fighter pilots and matched officers had similar rates of all malignant cancers (RR = 1.04; 95% CI: 0.83–1.31) and of each cancer site. Female fighter pilots and matched officers also had similar rates of all malignant cancers (RR = 0.99; 95% CI: 0.25–4.04). Discussion In the active component U.S. Air Force, fighter pilots and their officer peers had similar overall and site-specific cancer rates.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091586529&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0239437
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0239437
M3 - Article
C2 - 32960918
AN - SCOPUS:85091586529
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 15
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 9 September
M1 - e0239437
ER -