Abstract
BackgroundThe Germanwings Flight 9525 crash has brought the sensitive subject of airline pilot mental health to the forefront in aviation. Globally, 350 million people suffer from depression–a common mental disorder. This study provides further information on this important topic regarding mental health especially among female airline pilots. This is the first study to describe airline pilot mental health–with a focus on depression and suicidal thoughts–outside of the information derived from aircraft accident investigations, regulated health examinations, or identifiable self-reports, which are records protected by civil aviation authorities and airline companies.MethodsThis is a descriptive cross-sectional study via an anonymous web-based survey administered between April and December 2015. Pilots were recruited from unions, airline companies, and airports via convenience sampling. Data analysis included calculating absolute number and prevalence of health characteristics and depression scores.ResultsOne thousand eight hundred thirty seven (52.7%) of the 3485 surveyed pilots completed the survey, with 1866 (53.5%) completing at least half of the survey. 233 (12.6%) of 1848 airline pilots responding to the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), and 193 (13.5%) of 1430 pilots who reported working as an airline pilot in the last seven days at time of survey, met depression threshold–PHQ-9 total score ≥ 10. Seventy-five participants (4.1%) reported having suicidal thoughts within the past two weeks. We found a significant trend in proportions of depression at higher levels of use of sleep-aid medication (trend test z = 6.74, p < 0.001) and among those experiencing sexual harassment (z = 3.18, p = 0.001) or verbal harassment (z = 6.13, p < 0.001).ConclusionHundreds of pilots currently flying are managing depressive symptoms perhaps without the possibility of treatment due to the fear of negative career impacts. This study found 233 (12.6%) airline pilots meeting depression threshold and 75 (4.1%) pilots reporting having suicidal thoughts. Although results have limited generalizability, there are a significant number of active pilots suffering from depressive symptoms. We recommend airline organizations increase support for preventative mental health treatment. Future research will evaluate additional risk factors of depression such as sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12940-016-0200-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The Germanwings Flight 9525 crash has brought the sensitive subject of airline pilot mental health to the forefront in aviation
This study fills an important gap of knowledge by providing a current glimpse of mental health among commercial airline pilots, which to date had not been available
Our study found 233 (12.6%) of the 1848 airline pilots responding to the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) met criteria for likely depression
Summary
The Germanwings Flight 9525 crash has brought the sensitive subject of airline pilot mental health to the forefront in aviation. This study provides further information on this important topic regarding mental health especially among female airline pilots. On March 24, 2015, Germanwings flight 4U 9525 crashed into the French Alps killing 150 people Investigators of this tragic event report the 27-year-old co-pilot deliberately crashed the plane [1, 2]. Referred to as major depressive disorder (MDD) – characterized by at least two weeks of depressed mood or loss of interest along with at least four additional symptoms of depression [5] – is the second leading cause of years of life lived with a disability (YLDs) [6] and third most important cause of disease burden worldwide and affects an estimated 350 million people [7, 8]. Estimates of prevalence of diagnosed MDD or depressive symptoms related to MDD among high stress occupations include 12% among deployed and 13% among previously deployed U.S military personnel [13], 7% among U.S emergency medical technicians [14], and 10–17% among U.S police officers [15]
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