As mortality from certain cancers has been rising among high-income countries, researchers are beginning to ask if someone’s job may be a risk factor.
A new study published January 2026 in The Lancet Oncology looked at nearly a half million cancer deaths that occurred between 2020 and 2023 among working-age adults in the U.S. by occupation. The multi-institution team, including researchers at the UW and Ohio State University, generated thousands of age-adjusted cancer mortality rates by sex and more than 400 occupations. The results provide a valuable look into variation and trends in cancer burden by occupation, and signal the need for future research to understand causes and eventually inspire interventions.
“This is further evidence that not all occupations are created equal, and that it seems some occupations are going to put people at an increased risk of cancer,” said Marissa Baker, associate professor in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) and study co-author. “Despite the fact that occupation is such an important contributor to the burden of cancer in the U.S., it's really de-emphasized in how we prevent and treat disease."
High cancer mortality in construction and transportation
When considering occupation as broader categories, results were similar to other studies in that the highest overall cancer mortality rate for males was in the construction sector, and the highest mortality rate for females was in the transportation sector.
When looking at overall cancer death rates by detailed occupation and individual sex, the five occupations with the highest age-adjusted cancer mortality rates were:
- Males: Agricultural and food scientists; fishing and hunting workers; surveyors, cartographers, and photogrammetrists; extraction workers; and structural metal fabricators and fitters.
- Females: First-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service and groundskeeping workers; funeral directors; first-line supervisors of housekeeping and janitorial workers; fishing and hunting workers; and artists and related workers.
Across both sexes, the highest overall mortality rates were: fishing and hunting workers; mining machine operators; funeral directors; animal trainers; and dietitians and nutritionists.
What explains cancer mortality risk in different occupations?
While the carcinogens that cause cancer are well known in some industries, such as silica dust and formaldehyde in construction, these new findings suggest there may be other types of exposure or risk associated with a broader range of occupations.
Researchers said that just because an occupation has a high cancer mortality rate does not necessarily mean a workplace carcinogen is the only cause. These high rates could be due to other factors, such as lack of access to cancer-related care, inability to obtain life-saving cancer screenings and treatments, and interactions between workplace and lifestyle exposures.
“All those things can lead to the mortality burden that we see,” said Jesse Plascak, Ohio State University associate professor of cancer prevention and control. “Once drivers of occupation-related burden in cancer mortality are known, interventions can be developed to remove identified barriers to living a long and fulfilling life following a cancer diagnosis.”
While the research does not show the causes of cancer, these connections can help form future research questions. For example, female nursing and home health aides had notably high rates of cancer mortality for most cancer types in this study. Based on these trends and other studies, the team suggested various hypotheses for this, including limited regulations in individual households leading to greater exposure to carcinogens, reduced health care access or lower socioeconomic status.
Adapted from the full story on the UW School of Public Health blog.
Interested in learning more? Listen to Marissa Baker and Jesse Plascak discuss their research with The Lancet Oncology in conversation with podcast.
