• Military medicine · Jul 2024

    Cervical Disc Displacement in Military Pilots.

    • Patrick J Tansey, Cory F Janney, Daniel C Jupiter, Matthew Henriques, Pouya Alijanipour, and Patrick B Morrissey.
    • Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555-0165, USA.
    • Mil Med. 2024 Jul 3; 189 (7-8): e1571e1576e1571-e1576.

    IntroductionCervical disc displacement (CDD) may disqualify pilots from flying and have a profound impact on military unit capability. The objective of this retrospective database review is to characterize the incidence and demographic predictors of symptomatic cervical spine disc displacement in pilots of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and ground-based controls.Materials And MethodsThe Defense Military Epidemiology Database was queried for first-occurrence ICD-9 code 722.0: CDD cases from 2007 to 2015. Injury count rates among aircraft groups and overall incidence per 1,000 person-years were calculated and standardized for age, gender, and military rank, and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were compared to determine significance.ResultsThere were 934 new cases of CDD among active duty U.S. Military pilots during the study period. The overall incidence of CDD in all pilots during this time frame was 2.715 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI, 2.603-2.830). Helicopter pilots had a significantly higher incidence compared to all other aircraft pilots and crew at 3.79 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI, 3.48-4.13). This finding remained statistically significant after standardizing for age, gender, and rank. Among all military officers, increasing age was a risk factor for CDD.ConclusionsThe U.S. Military helicopter pilots have an increased risk compared to fixed-wing pilots and non-pilot controls. CDD remains a rare, though career-threatening, condition. Increased education and awareness training are warranted for both helicopter pilots and flight physicians to recognize signs and symptoms of cervical pathology. Continued investigations into preventive measures to minimize injury and time unfit for flight are warranted.© The Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2024. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…