Disease spectrum in hospitalized helicopter aircrews

Objective To provide the evidence for aeromedical support in a new period by observing the disease spectrum of hospitalized helicopter aircrews. Methods Medical records of 129（240 cases/time） helicopter aircrews admitted to our hospital from 2006 to 2010 were collected and stratified according to their disease,involved specialty and age.The data were compared with the reported findings in pilots of fighters. Results The first 10 diseases in hospitalized helicopter aircrews were cervical and lumbar spine lesion,headache,hypertension,polyp in gallbladder,ground syncope,meniscus injury,arrhythmia,chronic gastritis,urinary calculus,cerebral trauma.Acceleration intolerance,hypertension,and headache accounted for 0.83%（2/240）and 10.80%（159/1 472）（χ2=22.91,P＜0.01）,4.58%（11/240） and 1.15%（17/1 472）（χ2=15.08,P＜0.01）,4.58%（11/240）and 2.31%（34/1 472）（χ2=4.17,P＜0.05）,respectively.Orthopedics,neurology,otorhinolaryngology and cardiovasology were the most involved specialties.Hospitalized aircrews were found in each age group,with the 25-29 age group accounted for 25.58%. Conclusion The percentage of acceleration intolerance is lower,while the percentages of hypertension and headache are higher in helicopter aircrews than in fighter pilots.The percentages of cervical and lumbar spine disorder,ground syncope are both high in two groups.