• Military medicine · Mar 2023

    Self-Reported Health Care Avoidance Behavior in U.S. Military Pilots Related to Fear for Loss of Flying Status.

    • William R Hoffman, James K Aden, Daniel Barbera, and Anthony Tvaryanas.
    • Department of Neurology, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, TX 78204, USA.
    • Mil Med. 2023 Mar 20; 188 (3-4): e446e450e446-e450.

    IntroductionU.S. military pilots are required to meet certain medical standards in order to maintain an active flying status. Military pilots face potential temporary or permanent loss of flying privileges in the setting of a new condition or symptom that does not meet required standards, which could result in negative social and occupational repercussions for the pilot. For this reason, it has been proposed that U.S. military pilots participate in health care avoidance behavior, but little evidence exists to characterize such a trend in this population.Materials And MethodsWe conducted a non-probabilistic Internet survey of the general population of U.S. pilots from November 1, 2019 through August 1, 2021. The current study is a sub-analysis of military pilots.ResultsA total of 4,320 pilots answered the informed consent question, and 264 selected one military pilot type and were included in this sub-analysis. There were 72% of military pilots who reported a history of health care avoidance behavior (n = 190), and no statistical difference was found between age groups, gender, and military pilot types. There were 55.5% of pilots who reported a history of seeking informal medical care (n = 147), 33.7% of pilots who have flown despite a new symptom they felt required medical evaluation, 42.5% of pilots who reported withholding information on aeromedical screening (n = 111), and 11.4% of pilots who reported a history of undisclosed prescription medication use (n = 30).ConclusionsU.S. military pilots may participate in health care avoidance behavior because of fear for loss of flying status.Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2022. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

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