Life as flight steward or an air hostess seems like a dream, having breakfast at Brussels and dinner at Dubai. But there’s more to their jet-setting life than what meets the eyes. It’s a high-stress job that gets neatly concealed behind the glitzy and glamour. A new research validates the challenges of cabin crew jobs, which shows that flight attendants may be more vulnerable to serious illnesses.

Past research has shown that exposure to airline cabin environment can cause acute problems such as irritation, inflammation and infection and chronic ones like reproductive disorders, decreased lung functions and cancer. The journal Environmental Health features the study that says the flight attendants may be at greater risk of developing several forms of cancer as compared to the general population.

There’s a higher prevalence of cancers such as breast, uterus, ovarian and cervical for women and others such as that of lung, mouth, oesophagus, prostate, testicular, colon, bladder, melanoma, leukemia, thyroid, brain, lymphoma, liver, kidney, stomach and pancreas.

Flight attendants are at a higher risk of exposure to carcinogens and chemicals in the cabin environment. In addition to this, the high-stress associated with the job could an additional factor that increases cancer risk. Irregular schedule, disrupted circadian rhythm and sleep deprivation all contribute towards this risk.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 29, 2018 06:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).