India, Aug. 18 -- Flight attendants and pilots have the highest and second-highest proportions of radiation-related cancer deaths among more than 500 occupations in the United States, according to a new study.

The findings support considering occupational radiation protections for US aircrew members that are commensurate with their level of exposure, said senior author Anupam Jena, the Joseph P. Newhouse Professor of Health Care Policy at the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, and his team.

Aircrew members are known to receive the highest annual effective dose of ionizing radiation among US workers, largely because of exposure to cosmic radiation at high altitudes. Members of the profession are also more likely to be diagnos...