Pilots at higher risk of cataracts

Recent study shows that airline pilots and astronauts are at higher risk of cataracts.

Airline pilots are at higher risk of developing cataracts because of exposure to cosmic rays while aloft, researchers said Monday.

Researchers at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik studied 445 men aged 50 or older of whom 79 were pilots and 71 had cataracts, concluding the pilots had triple the risk of developing cataracts.

Cataracts, which can be removed surgically, cloud the eye’s lens and cause blindness. The type of cataracts studied were the most common, called nuclear cataracts, where the clouding begins in the center of the lens and spreads.

Read more: Pilots at higher risk of cataracts, study finds