Introduction: Several studies investigating whether prostate cancer incidence is elevated in aviators both in the civilian and military sectors have yielded inconsistent findings. Most investigations have compared aviators to the general population. Instead, our study compared prostate cancer incidence rates among officer aviators and non-aviators in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to reduce confounding by socioeconomic status and frequency of medical exams.
Methods: This retrospective analysis ascertained prostate cancer cases using the Automated Cancer Tumor Registry of the Department of Defense linked to personnel records from the USAF Personnel Center to identify aviators and non-aviators. Survival analysis using the Cox Proportional Hazards model allowed comparison of prostate cancer incidence rates in USAF aviators and non-aviators.
Results: After adjustment for age and race, the hazards ratio for prostate cancer incidence comparing aviators with non-aviators was 1.15 (95% confidence interval, 0.85-1.44). Neither prostate cancer incidence nor time to diagnosis differed significantly between the two groups.
Conclusion: Our study compared prostate cancer rates in aviators with a reference group of non-aviators similar in socio-economic level and frequency of exams. When compared to this internal reference group the risk of prostate cancer in USAF officer aviators appeared similar with no significant excess.