Dependability research on homocysteine and cardiovascular disease in pilots

Abstract

Objective To study the change of homocysteine (Hcy) concerntration in pilot's blood and to predict the occurrence of cardiovascular events of pilots. Methods One hundred and sixty-three pilots and 60 male health ground service personnel were selected as pilot and control groups and respectively divided by age as 21-30, 31-40 and 41-50 yrs sub-groups. Pilots were also grouped into ≤ 1000 h, 1001-2000 h, 2001-3000 h and 3001-4000 h sub-groups by flying hours. The concentration of Hcy were detected by using automatic biochemical analyzer. Results The Hcy concentration in pilot group was (9.86±4.45) μmol/L comparing to (7.10±1.77) μmol/L in control group and the difference between groups was significant (t=4.67, P＜0.01). For the Hcy change by age, significant differences were between sub-group 21-30 yrs and 41-50 yrs in control group (P＜0.05), and between each two sub-groups in pilot group (P＜0. 05 or P＜0. 01). For the Hcy detection by flying hours, sub-group 1001-2000 h and 2001-3000 h respectively showed significant difference to ≤ 1000 h sub-group (P ＜ 0.01). Between the same age sub-groups, the Hcy concentration in pilots is higher than that in control groups (t=3. 893, 6. 221, 3. 193, P＜0.01).Conclusions Detecting the Hcy concentration in blood can be used to predict the risk of cardiovascular events of pilot. Taking powerful intervention measure to restrict the elevation of Hcy level can effectively prevent coronary heart disease of pilot. Key words: Homocysteine ; Cardiovascular disease ;