Malignancy in U.S. Air Force fighter pilots and other officers, 1986–2017: A retrospective cohort study

by Anthony S. Robbins, Sonal R. Pathak, Bryant J. Webber, Roger A. Erich, James D. Escobar, Alisa A. Simon, Shauna L. Stahlman, Kelly J. Gambino-Shirley

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.

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.

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).

In the active component U.S. Air Force, fighter pilots and their officer peers had similar overall and site-specific cancer rates.