Respiratory Illness and Allergy Related to Work and Home Environment among Commercial Pilots.

Xi Fu,Torsten Lindgren,Christer Janson,Dan Norbäck,Gunilla Wieslander

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0164954

Xi Fu, Torsten Lindgren + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0164954

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Oct 14, 2016
Citations: 25	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Uppsala University Hospital

Abstract

The aim was to study associations between work and home environment and prevalence and incidence of respiratory health and a history of atopy in a 3-y cohort of commercial pilots. A questionnaire was mailed in 1997 to all pilots in a Scandinavian airline company (N = 622); 577 (93%) participated. The same questionnaire was sent to the participants 3 years later, 436 participated (76%). There were questions on asthma, respiratory symptoms and infections, allergies, the cabin environment, psychosocial environment and the home environment. Associations were analyzed by multiple logistic regression, calculating odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). The incidence of doctors’ diagnosed asthma and atopy were 2.4 and 16.6 per 1000 person years, respectively. Pilots changing type of flight during follow-up got more airway infections (OR = 11.27; 95% CI 2.39–53.14). Those reporting decreased work control (OR = 1.85; 95% CI 1.03–3.31 for 1 unit change) and those with environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) at home (OR = 3.73; 95% CI 1.09–12.83) had a higher incidence of atopy during follow up. Dampness or mould at home was associated with a higher prevalence of asthma symptoms (OR = 3.55; 95% CI 1.43–8.82) and airway infections (OR = 3.12 95% CI 1.27–7.68). Window pane condensation in winter at home, reported at baseline, was associated with increased incidence of asthma symptoms (OR = 4.14; 95% CI 1.32–12.97) and pilots living in newer buildings at baseline had a higher incidence of airway infections (OR = 5.23; 95% CI 1.43–19.10). In conclusion, lack of work control and ETS at home can be a risk factors for development of allergic symptoms in pilots. Window pane condensation at home can be a risk factor for incidence of asthma symptoms. Dampness and mould at home can be a risk factor for prevalence of asthma symptoms and airway infections and living in newer buildings can be a risk factor for incidence of airway infections.

Highlights

There has been concern about work related diseases among pilots due to their special work condition
The prevalence of respiratory health symptoms and allergies at baseline were compared between nonparticipants (N = 141) and participants (N = 436) (Table 1)
Nonparticipants had a higher prevalence of current wheeze and nonspecific hyperreactivity, but for other health variables there were no significant differences between nonparticipants and participants

Summary

Introduction

There has been concern about work related diseases among pilots due to their special work condition. Respiratory Illness and Allergy among Commercial Pilots cardiovascular disease [2], sleeping disorders [3], and medical symptoms on eyes, nose, skin and general symptoms [4,5,6,7]. Two studies on mortality among commercial pilots from UK and Greece reported that standardized mortality ratio due to respiratory illness among pilots was lower than in the general population [8] [9]. A study on morbidity among pilots from New Zealand reported that pilots have a lower prevalence of asthma (4.2%) as compared to the general population (9.6%) in New Zealand [10]. There are few studies about prevalence or incidence of asthma, allergies, bronchitis, and airway infections among commercial airline pilots

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